very region of Thailand has its signature textiles: loose weave cotton in the north; batik in the south; and royal designs in the central plains. The region of Isaan has a particularly diverse fabric heritage. Thailand is famous for its handwoven silks, made from the yellow cocoons of the bombyx mori silk worm. The textured outer part of the Thai cocoon is carefully separated from the inner smoother, lustrous silk. Each cocoon yields 900 meters of silk yarn, so fine that several strands must be twisted together before being hand-woven into very fine silk.
The southern part of Northeastern Thailand, or Isaan, is home to Cambodian speaking peoples surrounding Surin and Lao peoples in the Buriram area, whose textiles reflect their historical and ethnic backgrounds. Cotton cannot be grown because of the dry climate, so many families raise silkworms. Weaving is done during the time between rice plantings and harvests. A tie-dyeing technique called mudmee (ikat) is used to color the skeins of silk before weaving. The individual dyed threads are then arranged on the loom, one by one, so that they form an intricate pattern when woven. The woven fabric appears to shimmer.[16] Mee hol is an extremely delicate mudmee design dyed with three natural dyes that overlap to create six shades. A sophisticated double mudmee cloth called am prom is a fine red silk with minute dots of white resulting from the resist tying of both warp and weft yarns. Two techniques, phaa khit (usually woven from cotton) and prae wa (woven from silk) use a continuous supplementary weft, resulting in a raised, almost embroidered look. Complex multi-shaft bird’s-eye or diamond twill designs are woven into traditional shoulder cloths called swai soa. Silk brocades are also produced.[17] Though there has been a steady decline in the demand for handwoven silks since the 1960s, the social structure in rural villages enables skilled weaving to continue. Isaan women still weave fine silk fabrics to be presented as offerings, or as ritual textiles to be worn to the temple or for festive ceremonies such as weddings. Renewed appreciation of traditional arts has motivated the revival of techniques that had been unused for almost a century, and many fabrics are woven for tourists and for export.[17] In the absence of a detailed written history of the area, textiles, along with other cultural traditions, serve as valuable archeological evidence of ethnic migrations.