Weaving the Threads of Filipino Heritage

In celebration of this rich and colourful tradition that define each of this country’s region and mesmerized the world, we
feature the numerous beautiful traditional textiles of the Philippines.
Pinilian
Tribe & Place of Tribe: Ilocano
Origin: Origin: Ilocos Region
Materials: kapas or cotton
Weaving techniques: Includes the basic plain weave, the double-toned basket weave or binakul, and the multi-
heddle weave (binetwagan or tinumballitan), among others. Among the complicated one
is the brocade weave or pinilian, which uses sticks inserted on selected warp threads to
create designs that float on the threads.
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Bontoc Weave
Tribe & Place of Tribe: Bontoc
Origin: Origin: Mountain Province
Symbolism of the The Bontoc textile revolves around the idea of centeredness, which symbolises
Images: permanence, order, and balance, key factors in the life of the Bontoc people.
Weaving techniques: Young Bontoc girls usually start with the simplest part of the cloth, the langkit or
edging. Next, they move on to pa-ikid (side panels), learning simple designs. After
mastering this level, they move on to the most challenging part, the sinangad-am design.
Here, they incorporate designs on the bands. The pa-khawa (the center panel) is the next
thing they have to master. The center panel features a band in the middle and a kan-
ay (supplementary weft) at its end. Because of the complex process of adding the kan-
ay, the center panel would be woven last. When all the parts are ready, they would be
sewn together in the reverse order of their creation, ending with the langkit.
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Kalinga Textiles
Tribe & Place of Tribe: Kalinga
Origin: Origin: Province of Kalinga
Materials: Weavers of Kalinga textile use indigenous raw materials from banana, cogon, abaca and
maguey and braid them with polyester or cotton textile.
Weaving techniques: The Kalinga weavers, particularly in the upper Kalinga area, put textures on the striped
bands using twill-weave technique. Tiny motifs, patterns, and embellishments have
characterised Kalinga textile, including miniature lattice, continuous lozenge pattern
locally called inata-ata, and pawekan or mother-of-pearl platelets, among others.
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Pina
Tribe & Place of Tribe: Aklanon
Origin: Origin: Aklan
Materials: the piña fabric is made from the fibers of the leaves of the red Bisaya pineapple
Weaving techniques: Using a shard of Chinese porcelain, the stripper removes the epidermis of the leaf,
exposing the lustrous bastos fiber. After stripping the leaves of the rough fibers, the
stripper then run a coconut shell on the inner layer of the leaf to expose the liniwan. The
degumming process entails repeated rinsing, beating, and air-drying of the fibers. When
the fibers are completely dried, the weaver connects each strand through knotting to
produce long continuous strands before the weaving process, which uses the pedal
loom.
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Hablon
Tribe & Place of Tribe: Kiniray-a and Hiligaynon
Origin: Origin: Panay Island
Story/Legend behind In a Panayanon legend, ten datus from Borneo landed on Panay Island, established
the Weaving: settlements and ushered in an era of development. One of the legendary datus was Datu
Lubay, who is said to introduce the art of weaving textiles.
Weaving techniques: mechanised weaving
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Saputangan Tapestry Weave

Tribe & Place of Tribe: Yakan
Origin: Origin: Basilan
Story/Legend behind The saputangan is an example of a tapestry weave, considered the oldest and most traditional
the Weaving: technique in producing ornamented woven textiles, aside from the plain weave technique
wherein stripes and plaids are formed. Known for being highly-skilled, with impressive weaving
repertoires, Yakan weavers produce textile with five different kinds of weaving.
Materials: the piña fabric is made from the fibers of the leaves of the red Bisaya pineapple
Weaving techniques: The bunga-sama is a supplementary weft weave, made by using pattern sticks or heddles
in the loom to produce the pattern. The colourful striped siniluan is characterised by
warp-floating pattern. Saputangan is a square cloth best known for its intricate and rich
design, involving optical illusion to create depth in the patterns. The inalaman is made
using an elaborate supplementary-weft technique, and often used for women’s
wraparound skirt. The pinantupan, which is also used for the wraparound skirt, utilises
simple weft pattern arranged in the bands.
Uses of the Worn by Yakan women in different ways depending on the occasion such as elen-
Cloth/Weave/Worn elen (for everyday wear), hap tabuan (for going to market) and ginuna sipagkawin (worn
by like a veil when attending a wedding).
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 Mabal Tabih
Tribe & Place of Origin: Tribe: Blaan
Origin: Sarangani and South Cotabato
Uses of the Weave/Worn A practice traditionally reserved to women of high status, weaving has a strong spiritual
by context in Blaan society, believed to be the gift from Furalo, the goddess of weaving. Aside
from the tubular skirts, the abaca textile is used for making garment for men, as well as
covering for important materials such as knives.
Materials: abaca fibers and the back-strap loom
Weaving Techniques: The fibers are dyed using the warp tie-dye resist ikat technique and natural dyes from native
plants
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Bagobo Inabal
Tribe & Place of Origin: Tribe: Bagobo Manobo
Origin: Davao del Sur
Materials: fibers of the abaca from the leaf sheaths
Weaving Techniques: They use the back-strap loom for weaving inabal abaca fiber textiles with ikat-or tie-dyed
resist designs forming mother-and-baby crocodile figures in geometricised abstracted forms.
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Dagmay
Tribe & Place of Origin: Tribe: Mandaya
Origin: Eastern Mindanao
Materials: Abaca Fibers
Weaving Techniques: They use a mud dyeing technique. Used to obtain black, the technique is based on the
reaction between the tannins applied on the the yarn before treatment, and the iron found on
the mud. The bark of the tree, which contains tanninsm is pounded to a pulp and boiled
together with the abaca yarn. The mud is then added to the mixture. The yarn is steeped for
one to several hours for the best results.
Uses of the Weave/Worn Dagmay designs usually tell the story about the weaver and her community, as well as the
by spirits that live on Earth. The dagmay is usually used for women’s skirt, but it is also used as
blankets or wraps for the dead.
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 Meranaw Textile
Tribe & Place of Origin: Tribe: Mëranaw
Origin: Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur
Materials: Made using a narrow, specialised kind of tapestry loom, langkit, usually comes in two kinds:
tabrian or the narrow panel, and lakban or the wider panel. Beautifully designed, the langkit
has distinct Maranao okir designs including potiok (bud), dapal or raon (leaf), pako (fern),
pako rabong (growing fern) and katorai (flower). These intricate designs are made using
discontinuous weft.

Weaving Techniques: Weaving techniques includes the weft and warp ikat tie-dye resist and continuous and
discontinuous supplementary weft design.
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Pis Syabit Weave

Tribe & Place of Origin: Tribe: Tausug
Origin: Sulu Archipelago
Materials: Yarn or gold threads
Weaving Techniques: Plain weaving and Tapestry weaving as it is done in continuous supplementary weft or
suksuk
Uses of the Weave/Worn The pis syabit is traditionally worn by men and warriors. It is a multipurpose head-wear that
by may be worn on the shoulder, tied around the hilt of the kris (sword) or wrapped around the
head used by Tausug men usually a sign of rank.
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T’nalak
Tribe & Place of Origin: Tribe: Tboli
Origin: South Cotabato
Story/Legend behind The Tboli weavers are often called “dream weavers” but this applies only to a few dedicated
weaving: weavers. It is believed that the designs and patterns are bestowed on them by Fu Dalu, the
spirit of abaca, through their dreams.
Materials: Abaca fibers
Weaving Techniques: The tedious creation of the t’nalak starts with extracting the abaca fibers, which are them
combed to remove the sap. They are connected from end to end, and knotted and prepared for
design prior to resist-dyeing, known as the ikat method.
Uses of the It represents birth, life, union in marriage and death, and shows the uniqueness and identity of
cloth/weave/worn by: the indigenous group. It is often utilised as blankets and clothing, and used in royal wedding
ceremonies on rare occasions.
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