Hmong+sewing

Pa Dau begins about some 2,000 years ago. The designs and patterns used in Pa Dau (pan-dow) or flower cloth are symbolic in Hmong culture. Pa Dau are often used to decorate traditional Hmong clothing and as works of textile art. It incorporates applique, reverse applique, cross-stitching, batik and embroidery. They often show feature geometric designs and sometimes depicting animals or other creatures. The art design is called Pa Dau (flower cloth) because its finely detailed, it have bright color design that look like flowers. Some of them have geometric designs on them. Some of them use a motif, like a heart or a snail, to build patterns. Each design on a flower cloth stands for something in nature. Here are some design that show repeat heart and snail.

Here is a video showing some spirit cloths. media type="youtube" key="DM_HDMJQ0b0" height="385" width="480" align="center"

(The instrument that are play in this video are one of the instrument Hmong man use. During midnight man would carry this around with them when they sneak around to talk with their girlfriend. Couples that know how to use this intsrument understand what it means, kind of like another language.)

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