A needle drawing coloured thread through dark cloth
The stitches
A dozen distinct techniques, some of which exist nowhere else.
Miao Embroidery Masterclass in Guizhou
The Miao have no written script. A great deal of what other peoples put into documents went instead into cloth, which means the panel in front of you is closer to a text than a decoration.
- Duration
- One day, roughly 09:30 to 18:00
- Party
- Private, or a small group by arrangement
- From
- Enquire for pricing
- Best months
- April to June, September to November
What they mean
Migration routes, rivers, ancestors. Read, not admired.
A small embroidery hoop with work in progress
Your own panel
Started properly, finished at home, badly, over a long winter.
Without a script, the cloth does the work. Motifs that look ornamental to a visitor are held within families to record specific things — which river was crossed, which route was taken, who descends from whom — and the readings differ from valley to valley.
That makes the older panels difficult to price and impossible to replace. A piece worked by a grandmother is not craft stock, and plenty of households will not sell one under any circumstances.
You will be taught two or three stitches and get perhaps a few centimetres done. This is not a failure of the day. It is the correct measure of how long the real thing takes.
Skeins of coloured thread in a shallow basket
An embroidered sleeve panel on dark indigo cloth
Hands working a fine stitch close to the cloth
The day
- Learn several Miao stitches directly from an embroiderer
- Understand how the motifs record migration and lineage
- See older family pieces that are not for sale
- Start a panel of your own with materials to take away
- Eat with your host between sessions
Included
- Private host and interpreter for the full day
- Embroidery session, hoop, cloth and threads to take home
- Lunch with your host
- Private vehicle and driver
- Not included: Accommodation
- Not included: Flights and intercity transport
- Not included: Antique pieces, if you choose to buy
- Not included: Personal spending
Questions
Do the patterns really mean something specific?
Yes. Particular motifs are held to record migration routes, river crossings and lineage. Interpretations vary between valleys, and your host will tell you what her own family's version says.
I have never embroidered. Is that a problem?
No. You will be taught two or three stitches slowly and will get a small area done. Nobody finishes a panel in a day.
Can I buy older pieces?
Sometimes. Genuinely old family work is often not for sale at any price, and we will not pressure a host to part with it. Newer work usually is.
Is this suitable for children?
From about ten, yes, though attention tends to run out after an hour. We build in a break.
Will there be other guests?
Only if you want them. The day is normally private to your party; we also run it as a small group when travellers ask to share, and we will tell you which applies to your dates.