# Burmese Textiles/Section 2

The Shan Garments.
The description of the chief Shan garments in the George collection, presented in the following pages, includes groups of garments from the Taung-yo, Yang Lam, and La’hu tribes, as well as many other examples. In this connection it is interesting to note that whereas in most cases the men wear the conventional Shan dress, the women preserve the traditions of their tribes in the cut, colour and decoration of their garments.
Fig. 13. GS 60. Back of woman's coat. Mühso tribe, Kengtung State.
The Taung-yo Garments.
The Taung-yo are a northern Shan tribe which scarcely extends beyond the southern portion of Myelat (Fig. 1). The men wear Shan dress.
The women wear a garment called a thindoing, a sort of camisole or sleeveless short jacket, GS 57 (Fig. 7), GS 59n. Under this is worn a short kirtle, not extending below the knee, with which leggings, GS 58 (Fig. 9) are sometimes used. The wealthier members of the clan add embroidery to these garments. The hair is done up in a chignon, and a black cloth (tabet) wound round the head, turban fashion, and ornamented with a variety of coloured tassels, or else a head-dress is worn of the kind described in the following paragraph, GS 84 (Fig. 6) which has the cap portion placed on the head while the ends are allowed to hang down the back. The Palung women also wear a head-dress of a similar shape. The head dress belonging to a member of the Taung-yo tribe, is of special interest as it is folded in half and joined to form a kind of cap, instead of being a straigth length of material. The two edges on the left of Fig. 6 are joined throughout their entire length, 162 cm. (5ft. 4in.,) and on the right to a depth of 12.7 cm. (5in.) The width of the cloth, a coarsely woven grey cotton fabric, is 26.7 cm. (10½in.); and its ends are finished off by a twisted fringe (Fig. 6b) made from the warps by taking a pair in either hand, twisting in opposite directions, then together, and, finally, knotting the ends.
Fig. 13a. GS 60. Woman's Coat. Mühso tribe. Kengtung States.
About a centimetre above this fringe is a stripe, red, yellow, red, 3 cm. wide, and 38 cm. (15in.) further up is a broad red stripe produced by the use of a non-twisted red silk weft which is so much more closely beaten up than the rest of the cloth that the width is increased to 30.4 cm. (12in.) This red silk stripe is bordered on either ​side by a narrower one, 1.5 cm. (⅝in.) made up of four stripes of yellow and one of green on the red ground. The lacing stitch, shewn in Fig. 6a, used to join the edges is red, except where the silk stripe occurs, then, so that the decorative value of it may not be lost, yellow is used.
GS 57 (Fig. 7). A young woman's upper garment is shewn in Fig. 7, (p. 7) and is particularly interesting on account of the varied methods employed in its decoration. The garment is made of narrow, black, native cloth, 36.7 cm. (14¼in.) wide and is very simply put together, a strip being placed over each shoulder and then joined down the sides below the arms and down the centres of the front and back, leaving a V-shaped opening for the head to go through. The edges of this opening and the armholes are strengthened and ornamented by the addition of a plaited braid in blue, then two rows of coarse running stitches in yellow and green respectively, and pairs of long, white seeds (Job's tears) placed under these stitches. An imported brass button and a loop of the braid ornament the point of the neck opening, and tassels, made by fraying out the blue braid, finish off the bottom of the armholes.
The bottom edge of the garment is treated quite differently, having first, a woven border in which the pattern is produced by a white or black weft thread being brought to the surface and passing over groups of warp threads as in a damask or reversible cloth, and below that a tufted braid in which all colours are mingled. The braid has been worked in the same way as on Eastern carpet, a cluster of threads being knotted on to each group of warps, then one or two picks of weft made to keep them in their place, and these processes repeated alternately for a sufficient space, the ends being clipped evenly afterwards.
GS 59 is a similar garment belonging to another member of the Taung-yo tribe. Its chief point of interest lies in the neatly worked border and fringed edge at the waist. It is a particularly small garment (measuring 45 cm. by 41 cm.) made of two widths, each 20.5 cm. (8 1/16in.), of firmly woven native cloth in black.
​There are 68 warp and only 20 weft threads to the inch, so that the warp really forms the surface of the cloth, and as at one edge the warps are 6 black, 12 red, 2 black, 2 white, 2 black, 2 red, a prettily striped selvedge results. The two coloured selvedges are joined by a seam so as to form a stripe down the centres of the front and back of the garment, the neck opening being decorated by a yellow and red plait made of four strands. The ornamental border at the waist (Fig. 8, p. 8) although of a type easily produced by weaving, proves upon examination to have been worked by hand on the finished cloth. It is in red with the exception of two rows of yellow stitchery (Fig. 8a). At the bottom edge the warp ends have been grouped in bunches of about 14 so as to form a tasselled fringe (Fig. 8b), each group being held firmly by a knotted stitch, the method of working which can be easily seen in the diagram. A buttonhole stitching in white is used to join the sides of the garment.
GS 58. Fig. 9 (p. 8) represents a legging, usually worn below their short skirt by women of the Taung-yo tribe. It consists of an oblong piece of buff-coloured cotton cloth, 38.5 cm. by 36 cm., joined by a run and fell seam. Two pieces of cloth are applied as decoration, a large square piece of imported black sateen and an oblong of red flannel. Both are sewn down by a running stitch in red, and red cords are attached at the top and bottom for use as fastenings.
The Yang Lam Garments.
The Yang Lam are a division of the Karenni tribes and inhabit the undulating plain between Möng Nai and South Hsenwi in the Southern Shan States. Their language is quite distinct from Shan, and although they do not admit any connection, there is evidence of their relationship with the Wa, a very wild hill tribe.
According to Mr. Stirling, the Yang Lam women wear a closed skirt of black or dark blue cloth, belted round the waist and reaching to the ankles; and a jacket of the same colour, sometimes ornamented with embroidery and beads, GS 63 (Fig. 10). The dress is modest and becoming, an unusual feature in the fashions of the hill tribes. The men wear Shan dress.
GS 63 (Figs. 10 and 11). The maiden's coat, belonging to a member of the Yang Lam or Black Karen tribe, depicted in Figure 10, (p. 10) is a particularly well made garment, which exhibits a varied and yet restrained use of decorative stitchery as ​well as the interesting fringed ornaments across the front and back, which form its chief decoration.
The garment is made of a strip of black native cloth, 50 cm. wide and 77 cm. long, edged at the bottom with a narrow strip of very finely woven red cloth 9 cm. wide. The piece of material has been folded across the warp and the selvedges turned back slightly and then joined by a form of lacing stitch (Fig. 11a, p. 12), leaving an opening for the arm which measures 16 cm. from the fold downwards. The sleeve opening is ornamented by stitchery in yellow, red and green, the different threads being just carried along the edge when not in use. Two needles, carrying red and green respectively, would be needed, the emerald green thread being drawn through the stitches at the edge afterwards (Fig. 11b).
For the neck opening a slit is cut downwards from the centre of the fold to a depth of 15 cm., this is somewhat unusual, as the cloths are generally joined in the front. GS 57 (Fig. 7), GS 59n. The raw edges are turned back and fastened down by groups of backstitches in red (Fig. 11c) the bottom of the cut being strengthened by a few overcasting stitches.
The band of red at the lower edge is joined to the black by a lacing stitch in green, similar to that shewn in Figure 11a, but has in addition a simple motive worked in red and yellow (Fig. 11d).
Varied materials have been pressed into service to make the elaborate fringed ornament; twisted and plaited strands of red cotton, narrow red and green woven braid, long and round white seeds, a few very small glass beads, and the iridiscent green cases from the legs of some small beetles. The two latter alternate with one another between the long and round white seeds at the head of each tassel (Fig. 11e).
Across the top of the fringe is a double row of ornamental stitchery, the lower being a chain stitch, worked alternately in sections of red and yellow, whilst the upper is a clever adaptation of a buttonhole stitch, in which the stitches are taken on either side of the finished row and alternate ones are interlaced with the previous stitch (Fig 11f).
It will be noticed that the alternation of red and yellow in the stitchery is maintained throughout Figs, 11b, d, f and the general effect of the garment is both attractive and neat.
The La’hu Garments.
The La’hu or Lü tribes belong chiefly to the Kengtung States on the Chinese frontier, and intercourse with the Chinese has influenced the style of garment worn. The women wear a jacket of black cloth, GS 53 (Fig. 12) fastened at the throat and over the bosom by silver clasps, similar to those used by the Kachins (Fig. 31a). Below the coat a triangular portion of the waist is freely exposed, the legs are sometimes encased in full trousers, sometimes a skirt is worn.
According to Mr. H. S. Hallett the clan to which the tribe belongs is denoted by the pattern of the women's skirt. He says: "the upper portion of the petticoat is worked with horizontal red stripes having interwoven lines of gold thread; then comes an inch (2.5 cm.) of plain red, followed by an inch and a half of blue, four inches (10 cm.) of black, two and a half of blue, (6.4 cm.) and a turning of a quarter of an inch of red at the bottom."
The well-to-do women wear silver torques round their necks (Fig. 32a), the poorer ones cane necklets. Earrings are worn and are frequently long enough to reach the shoulders.
Another branch, the Red La’hu's, or as the Shans call them, the Mühso, have settled in Kengtung for the most part. Their dialect differs from that of the La’hu but their costume is somewhat similar. The women wear a long black cloth coat, reaching nearly to the ankles and slit up at the sides to the hips, frequently decorated by strips of white and red GS 60 (Figs. 13, 13a). The undergarment is usually brown ​or some other colour than black. Excellent examples of the two types of jacket or coat worn by the women of these tribes are to be seen in the George collection, and two of them are described below in detail.
GS 53 (Fig. 12). The garment represented in this figure (p. 13) is the black cloth coat of a woman of the La’hu tribe. It is of a somewhat unusual and exceedingly uncomfortable shape, being extremely tight across the shoulders, very shortwaisted, and having very long, tight sleeves cut the same width throughout. When in wear the front of the coat does not reach the natural waist line. It is fastened by means of one scarlet cord attached to the seam under the left arm and another joined to the front edge of the right hand side of the garment, which folds over slightly.
The decoration consists chiefly of folds of differently coloured cloths, stitched down by contrasting colours. A narrow braid provides a touch of scarlet on the collar and lower edge, but the place of honour in each case is given to imported material; on the collar the central part of the trimming consists of a strip of fine white calico, of Lancashire make, sewn down by a triple row of herringboning, in red, green and yellow, and the pattern at the lower edge includes a flat green silk braid with a design in white and purple woven in it, which is of Chinese origin.
​which is effectively decorated by an elaborate applique of red, porcelain blue, yellow, white and black cloth and stitchery in red, white, green and yellow.
GS 62 (Fig. 15), is a skirt made from a mixture of native and Chinese cloths. The broad hem at d, 17.8 cm. (7in.) wide, is of black cotton, and the top a, a slightly wider strip of red, both of native manufacture. Between these is a piece of rather loosely woven red silk material b striped with white, dull green and yellow, which appears to be of Chinese origin, and is connected with the black hem by a narrow border of Chinese embroidery in green, yellow and pink (Fig. 15c); the whole forming a pleasant scheme of colour. A narrow, high, black turban would be worn with the costume just described.
​The remaining Shan garments in the collection are not attributed to any special tribes. The rest of the chapter is devoted to descriptions of the most interesting of them.

## Coats.

GS 23 (Fig. 16). The coat, the back of which is shewn in Figure 16 (p. 20), belonged to a Shan woman of the peasant class, and is interesting because cloth applique, embroidery and cowrie shells have all entered into its decoration. The body is made of two widths of black native cloth, with slightly wider pieces for each sleeve. The trimming on the front is incomplete, the garment having been mutilated, but the back is effectively treated by the application of pieces of white native cloth and imported scarlet flannel so as to form a stripe down the centre, and a deep panelled border at the bottom.
Each of the white cloth panels is outlined by a narrow fold of the cloth, with the addition, in most cases, of a fold of black. The two squares between the shoulders are sub-divided again by black and white and red and white folds placed along the diagonals of the red and white squares respectively. At the intersection of the diagonals cowrie shells are placed to form a quatrefoil, which is repeated at each side of the square. The shells are used, both in pairs and singly, at other points in the scheme of decoration and, on a black band at the bottom, alternate with wheels of buttonhole stitchery in yellow, and form a most attractive border (Fig. 16a.) Circles of buttonhole stitching are also used along the outer edges of the panelled portion, being worked in blue and red on the white panel at the left of Figure 16, and black, yellow and pink on the red panel. The sleeves near the shoulder have a band of pink cotton cloth decorated with cowrie shells, and at the wrist a band of pink attached to another strip which appears originally to have been pale blue. ​

## Skirts.

GS 17 (Figs. 17, 18 and 19) is the skirt or hta-men of a Shan woman from the Burmo-Chinese frontier, and seems to be of an unusual type as regards its embroidered decoration, in which the peacock and floral motives alternate (p. 21, 22). Contrary to expectation the treatment of the peacock in the design shows distinct Indian influence rather than Chinese. The garment itself consists of two pieces of heavy striped cloth, each 130 cm. by 63 cm., which is an unusual width for a native production, and in which the arrangement of the stripes is interesting; there are plain stripes of one colour covered by embroidery, and fancy stripes composed of a number of smaller ones of different colours which act as borders to the embroidered. The weft is red throughout, and the colours of the stripes are dependent upon those of the warp. There is a great variation in the width of the stripes, practically no two being alike, but some idea of their relative proportions can be gathered from the measurements given below, which have been taken from left to right across one piece of the cloth.
| Selvedge ... ... ... ... ... | 2 cm. wide. |
| Red stripe (embroidered peacocks, etc.) ... ... | 4.7 " " |
| Fancy stripe ... ... ... ... | .7 " " |
| Pale blue and white stripe (embroidered floral motives) ... | 2.1 " " |
| Fancy stripe . . ... ... ... | .6 " " |
| Green ,, (embroidered floral motives) ... ... | 1.8 " " |
| Fancy ,, ... ... ... ... | .5 " " |
| Red ,, (embroidered peacocks, etc.) ... ... | 5.3 " " |
| Fancy ,, ... ... ... ... | .5 " " |
| Blue and white stripe (embroidered floral motives) ... | 2.2 " " |
| Fancy stripe ... ... ... ... | .8 " " |
| Green „ (embroidered floral motives) ... ... | 1.0 " " |
| Fancy ,, ... ... ... ... | .6 " " |
| Red ,, (embroidered peacocks, etc.) ... ... | 5.1 " " |
| Fancy „ ... ... ... ... | .6 " " |
| Blue and white stripe (embroidered floral motives) ... | 2.2 " " |
| Fancy stripe ... ... ... ... | .9 " " |
| Black , ... ... ... ... | 2.1 " " |
| Fancy , ... ... ... ... | .5 " " |
| Green , ... ... ... ... | 2.3 " " |
| Fancy , ... ... ... ... | .7 " " |
| Red , (embroidered peacocks, etc.) ... ... | 6.2 " " |
| Fancy , ... ... ... ... | .5 " " |
| Blue and white stripe (embroidered floral motives) ... | 2.7 " " |
| Fancy stripe ... ... ... ... | .9 " " |
| Black , (embroidered peacocks, etc.) ... ... | 6.8 " " |
| Fancy , ... ... ... ... ... | .8 " " |
| Green , (embroidered floral motives) ... ... | 2.3 " " |
| Fancy , ... ... ... ... ... | .4 " " |
| Red , (embroidered peacocks, etc.) ... ... | 4.5 " " |
| Fancy , ... ... ... ... ... | .5 " " |
| Blue and white stripe (embroidered floral motives) ... | 1.6 " " |
| Fancy selvedge ... ... ... ... | .4 " " |
| | 63.0 cm. |
It is interesting to note that similar rows of stitchery are frequently found as a decoration on Coptic cloths, but are there worked directly on the web and not on the finished cloth.
GS 15 (Fig. 20) and GS 21 (Fig. 21) are also women's skirts, and, with the one just described, are the handsomest pieces in the collection. They afford an interesting contrast both as regards design and method of working to GS 17.
Although Mr. E. C. S. George, in a personal note on the articles in the collection, describes both these specimens as "embroidered," and a similar effect could be obtained with the needle, upon careful examination it seems much more probable that the method employed to produce the patterns was that of
(i) All the coloured silk threads lie exactly between and parallel to the picks of weft and are always worked from right to left and left to right alternately in filling in any portion of the pattern.
(ii) In GS 15 (p. 23, 25) four threads of twisted silk are used together and lie smoothly, without crossing one another, on both back and front of the work. Such a result would be difficult of achievement if a needle were used to draw so many thicknesses of thread through a closely woven cloth. In GS 21 four strands of floss silk (spun silk only very slightly twisted) lie just as evenly on both sides.
(iii) Longer lengths of silk are used than is usual with a needle, and the threads themselves shew no roughness or wear at the end such as would be produced if they had been frequently drawn through a piece of cloth.
Whilst the method used to produce the patterns is the same in both GS 15 and GS 21, the difference in the individual patterns is very marked; the former, which has a lozenge shaped design, forming vertical stripes, is a typical Shan arrangement, whilst the more regular pattern based on the square in GS 21 (Fig. 21) shews a strong Chinese influence. In the latter case, too, the floss silk is coloured with aniline dyes and was probably imported from China ready for use, whilst the silks used in GS 15 are beautifully dyed with soft native colours and shew many ​gradations of tone. After this general comparison of two of the finest pieces of craftmanship in this collection of cloths, some consideration of them in detail may be of value.
As can be seen from Figure 20, which shews the general plan of the skirt decoration, a large pattern alternates with two smaller ones, and although the depth remains the same in each repeat the width varies, so that some patterns are more compressed than others. The width depends on the number of picks between the rows of brocade weaving, they vary from one to four, but in no case does ​the background shew between the threads of the pattern, because the group of silk threads used for the latter is so much thicker than the warp itself.
Both the large and small designs are based upon the lozenge, a large diamond, having a smaller one on each side occuring in each repeat. These lozenges are outlined in white, in the case of the larger ones by a fret border, and in the smaller by a line. A portion of the pattern has been enlarged in Figure 20a, (p. 25) and it will be seen that two different motives, and developments of them, are used as fillings for the diamond shaped spaces. The swastika occurs in its simple form outside the lozenges and in two more elaborate developments inside them. A star-like motive also occurs both inside and outside the diamonds, and is still further developed into a more floral looking spot and used as a filling for the largest lozenge.
GS 21 (Figs. 21 and 21a, p. 26, 27). This gorgeously coloured piece of cloth is the edging for a woman's skirt, and belongs to a district bordering on the Chinese frontier. Chinese influence is discernable in the regularity of the pattern repeat, the great development of the square as the chief motive (Fig. 21) and the general lack of freedom in the treatment. As in the previous example, the main lines of the pattern, consisting of a border composed of a line and a row of tiny squares, are worked in white; the other colours are used at the discretion of the worker.
Magenta, red, cerise, lemon yellow, orange, royal blue, emerald green and grass green, as well as gold thread and white, are used in working the pattern, and the brightness of the aniline dyes produces a handsome and striking effect. The ends of the cloth are frayed to form a short fringe.
GS 54n is a Shan woman's Hta-men or closed skirt made of two different materials; the upper portion consisting of a strip of coarsely woven cotton cloth 37.5 cm. (14¾in.) wide, of a green colour, and the lower part of a piece of gorgeously striped cloth about 69 cm. (27in.) wide, which appears to be of either Burmese or Chinese manufacture. The warp in the latter cloth is red and groups of narrow coloured stripes are divided by broader bands, including the whole gamut of Oriental colour: indigo, porcelain blue, blue-green and yellow-green, yellow, orange, rose and red. ​

## Head-Dresses.

GS 86 (Fig. 25). The Shan head-dress illustrated in Figure 25, (p. 31) is an exceedingly handsome example of decoration produced by the combination of pattern weaving and embroidery. The strip of black cloth is 140 cm. by 31.5 cm., exclusive of the fringed warp-ends, which measures about 15 cm. each. The all-overpattern consists of stripes of varying widths; some, such as at c, are produced entirely by coloured wefts, the different shuttle threads being carried loosely along the edge of the cloth when not required.
GS 15a (Fig. 26). The head-dress, part of the decoration of which is illustrated in Figure 26, (p. 32) belonged to a Shan woman of the well-to-do class. It is a very good piece of native workmanship, consisting of a strip of black cloth 17 cm. (6¾in.) wide, and 266 cm. (8ft. 9in.) long, exclusive of the fringed ends which are somewhat uneven in length, but average 27 cm. (10⅝in.) The whole of the head-dress is covered with decoration, the central portion with ever-varying spot motives based upon the lozenge and swastika, and the ends, to a depth of about 32 cm. (12⅛in.) with striped borders based upon the same motives. This elaborate and typical pattern has been produced by 'brocade weaving.'
GS 61n and GS 55n are two other Shan head-dresses. The former is a three yard length of spot muslin of Lancashire manufacture, dyed black with a native dye. The latter is a strip of black native cloth, effectively decorated by a border of silvery-white stripes at either end. These stripes have been produced by the use of a fine, natural grass as weft.

## Wallets.

GS 32 (Fig. 29). One of a group of handsome wallets or bags is shewn in Figure 29, (p. 36) a product of Shan craftsmanship that is both striking and artistic in colour and design. It is constructed from two pieces of black cloth, 12.5 cm. (about 4⅞in.) wide, having narrow warp stripes of rich orange colour at either edge. A. long strip a, folded lengthwise, forms the sides of the bag, the handle and the fringe. A shorter piece b, folded in two across its length forms the central portion. The edges of these strips are joined by a crossed over-casting stitch (Fig, 29d) so as to form a ridge, on either side of which are sewn rows of white seeds, Job's tears (Coix lachryma Jobi. L. var stenocarpa) (Fig. 29e). Similar white seeds are also used at the sides to form a star-like motive (Fig. 29c) and produce a striking effect against the black background. Bands of woven pattern, executed in silk and silver thread, occur at stated intervals, and the spaces between are entirely covered with rows of stitchery in thick, black gloss silk. These embroidery stitches slant in different directions in alternate rows, thus giving the effect of 'a herringbone weave.' The colours used in the woven borders are red, rose, orange, yellow, green, white and ​silver, and the designs are of a most restrained type. Unfortunately the black and white of the illustration give no idea of the beautiful colouring; but some idea of the designs can be obtained from the enlarged details, (Fig. 29e, f). After all the embroidery had been done, the material was stiffened by an application of rice paste to the back of the work.
The remaining bags in this group are all exactly similar in design; but whilst one is black, like GS 32, in the other two the stitchery which covers the bulk of the surface is emerald green in the one case, and crimson in the other.
* ↑ Upper Burma Gazetteer.
* ↑ Upper Burma Gazetteer.
* ↑ Where colours are indicated in the figures a key is given.
* ↑ Coptic Cloths, by Laura E. Start, Bankfield Museum Notes, and Series, No. 4, Figs. 10 and 23.
* ↑ See "Weaving, Dyeing, etc." page 9.