Weaving

Shu embroidery, as the longest-standing embroidery in China, is one of the four famous Chinese embroidery, along with Su embroidery, Xiang embroidery, and Yue embroidery. The hands of Shu embroidery weavers not only hold a precious craft, but also carry thousands of years of reproduction and imagination of flowers, birds, trees, rivers, and nature. Take a look at the history of Shu embroidery and its exquisiteness with Cosmopolitan's interview with Wang Xia, the inheritor of Shu embroidery.   The treasure of Shu embroidery begins at the tip of a needle The art of Shu embroidery, which began with a needlepoint, is a luxury for modern people, it is a craft that has been passed down for over two thousand years. Shu embroidery, with its bright and delicate colors and exquisite needlework, has formed its own unique charm, and its richness ranks first among the four famous embroideries. In fact, the history of Shu embroidery dates back to the Western Han Dynasty. "The industry of female workers, covering the world in clothes," was recorded in the "Book of the Later Han". At that time, the literary writer Yang Xiong described the scene of embroidering silk that could be seen everywhere in…

Ancient paintings are one of the most important ways to explore the ancient traditional Hanfu, and the Hanfu styles in some classic famous paintings are even more popular among Hanfu enthusiasts. The charm of the Wei and Jin dynasties, the gracefulness of the Tang Dynasty, the elegance of the Song Dynasty, just flow into reality from ancient paintings. Today, take a look at those restored Hanfu costumes from ancient paintings!   Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk (Dao Lian Tu, 捣练圖) shows women at work pounding, weaving, ironing and sewing, and is an important custom painting of the Tang Dynasty. The women in the painting are voluptuous and dressed in various colors of Qixiong dresses, if looking closely, you can see that the fabric is decorated with colorful patterns, mainly with Tuan Hua (团花). At present, there are some restored Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk hanfu, which can be said to be very nicely restored in color and pattern, fresh, natural and antique style.   A Palace Concert A Palace Concert (Tang Ren Gong Le Tu, 唐人宫乐图) depicts the life of court lady at a banquet during the late Tang Dynasty. Around the…

Mamian skirt, Qixiong dress, and the hundred-pleat skirt; wearing traditional Hanfu has become a new trend in public attire in recent years, whether it be for sightseeing, wedding ceremonies, shopping, friend gatherings, and various other occasions. The "Hanfu craze" continues to rise, blending tradition with modernity, activating cultural resources, igniting the consumer market, and driving industrial development. In recent years, Hanfu has gradually gained popularity among the younger generation, with their youthful expression and fashionable presentation bringing Chinese traditional culture into daily life in a tangible and palpable form. The long-standing Chinese traditional clothing culture embodies a blend of Chinese aesthetic interests, reflecting not only a consumer choice but also the Chinese people's love for outstanding traditional culture.   Demand exceeds supply During the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival of the Year of the Dragon, the activity of "wearing Chinese costumes for free to visit the Confucian Temples" in Qufu City, Jining, Shandong, has been well received. Wang Chunling, a visitor from Liaoning, traveled a long distance with friends to play here, attracted by the lively atmosphere of night tours in the ancient city of Qufu and folk performances, and dressed in Hanfu to join the parade. This year, garments…

Hey everyone, long time no see! It's been a while and I promise I'm still working on the Song Dynasty sections of Hanfu Unearthed—in the meantime, enjoy this not-so-short cheat sheet to all of the most commonly used fibers and weaves in hanfu, whether historically or in the industry today. Fibers Fibers are the material from which threads are spun to be made into fabric. These include synthetic fibers made in labs or factories by humans, as well as animal fibers that are grown as fur or silk by animals, or plant-based fibers that we harvest from various fibrous plants. Tencel Rising in popularity, especially last summer, tencel is a kind of semi-synthetic fiber made from cellulose, also called lyocell, originally made to imitate silk. Made by dissolving cellulose into pulp and using dry jet-et spinning to reconstitute the fibers, it’s a clean process that creates a kind of synthetic fiber using natural materials: easier to dye than cotton, more breathable than polyester, moisture-wicking, and softer than linen. The one downside of tencel is that it’s easily wrinkled, but its smooth draping quality and breathability make it a first choice for hanfu manufacturers today. Other rayons are also used, but…

Ancient paintings are one of the most important ways to explore the ancient traditional Hanfu, and the Hanfu styles in some classic famous paintings are even more popular among Hanfu enthusiasts. The charm of the Wei and Jin dynasties, the gracefulness of the Tang Dynasty, the elegance of the Song Dynasty, just flow into reality from ancient paintings. Today, take a look at those restored Hanfu costumes from ancient paintings!   Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk (Dao Lian Tu, 捣练圖) shows women at work pounding, weaving, ironing and sewing, and is an important custom painting of the Tang Dynasty. The women in the painting are voluptuous and dressed in various colors of Qixiong dresses, if looking closely, you can see that the fabric is decorated with colorful patterns, mainly with Tuan Hua (团花). At present, there are some restored Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk hanfu, which can be said to be very nicely restored in color and pattern, fresh, natural and antique style.   A Palace Concert A Palace Concert (Tang Ren Gong Le Tu, 唐人宫乐图) depicts the life of court lady at a banquet during the late Tang Dynasty. Around the…

Maybe you often have the idea of making your own Hanfu, in addition to buying a new Hanfu. In this article, we will briefly introduce the steps of Hanfu making and the common fabrics used in Hanfu making. I hope it will be helpful to you. 01 Steps & Difficulties of Hanfu Making The first step in Hanfu making is to determine the shape (style) and draw the pattern design. The second step of Hanfu making: determine the fabric and pattern. The process of fabric usually includes: printing (印花, yìn huā), embroidery (绣花, xiù huā), gold weaving (织金, zhī jīn), gold sprinkling (洒金, sa jīn), gold printing (印金, yìn jīn) and so on. For example, this one-piece pleated skirt is made with embroidery + decorations on the skirt head, gold and silver silk fabric (colorful silk fabric) + different printing patterns on the left and right + gold sprinkles and gold foil effect fabric and technology, rich in layers. Printed Patterns The fabric of the Hanfu needs careful preparation: because the patterns and embroidery printing may need to be redesigned and drawn, and even if there is a prototype of the pattern, it needs to refer to the material for…

The cooler fall months are finally here, and there's no season with softer colors than fall. Have you figured out how to dress in this season? For a change of style for fall, choose classic and beautiful fall Hanfu. Let's see together what Hanfu Time brought Chinese costume for the female in autumn. 01 - Put on Golden Hanfu and Open Autumn Gold weaving is a common element in the Chinese clothing fabric, with the classic pattern of Zhuanghua silk (妆花, the most complex variety of Nanjing cloud brocade weaving process), a combination of the two, is the bling feeling, and gold weaving, as the name suggests is the fabric plus gold thread. In the Tang Dynasty, there were 14 kinds of gold weaving methods recorded in the literature, and in the Song Dynasty, there were also 18 kinds. The most prestigious gold-weaving dynasty is the Yuan dynasty, the noble life can be called extravagant, life with the daily quilt, curtains are also made of gold-weaving. As you can see, the weave is used a lot on the Mamian skirt and the Mamian skirt is perfect for the fall and winter season. 02 - Put on a Warm Bijia (比甲)…

Fabric and craftsmanship are both very important aspects of hanfu making. In this article, several common hanfu fabric processes will be briefly introduced to you.   Zhuang Hua Zhuang Hua (妆花) is the most complex variety of weaving technology in Nanjing cloud brocade, and also the representative jacquard silk weaving variety with the most local characteristics of Nanjing, was popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Traditional Zhuang Hua is made of artificial weaving, and the Zhuang Hua on nowadays are all "imitation Zhuang Hua", which are made by machines. The Zhuang Hua fabric is characterized by many colors and is rich in color changes. In terms of the weaving method, the pattern on the fabric is partially painted by using a colored fleece weft bobbin. The color matching is very free and there are no restrictions. The main pattern of the design is usually expressed in two or three levels of color, and some patterns are expressed in simple color (such as pedicels, leaves, and buds). A piece of Zhuang Hua fabric with patterns and colors can be matched in more than a dozen or even 20 or 30 colors. Although there are many colors of Zhuang Hua, but…