Madagascar

History of Our Craft

The Malagasy people have traditionally hand-loomed beautiful silk cloth for many generations.  Originally, these garments were used for traditional ceremonies and rights of passage in their village cultures.  The process of making the stunning shawls, throws and scarves is quite time consuming.  First silk cocoons are gathered from the forest and taken back to the village.  The women carefully pick silk from the cocoons and combine it into larger quantities to be boiled and washed.  After the silk is cleaned, it is dried and then spun by hand into thread.  It is then dyed using either natural dyes from berries,  bark, leaves, and roots, or using synthetic dyes.  Finally it is threaded and made into beautiful cloth on looms, which have been used for many generations.  It is a process that takes much time, effort and attention to detail to make the fine shawls, scarves and throws which you can buy from Eternal Threads.  This project keeps an age old tradition alive in Malagasy villages, while also providing a desperately needed income to families in poverty.

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Eternal Threads in Madagascar»