Join Slow Fiber Studios for a talk by Tomoko Torimaru, textile scholar and author of, One Needle, One Thread: Miao (Hmong) Embroidery and Fabric Piecework from Guizhou, China (EN). Tomoko Torimaru’s research into the vital human technology of needle and thread takes us back to what she believes must be up to 100,000 years in human history–a journey to ancient China, Japan, and the Miao in Guizhou, China. She deciphers for us the beautiful stitchery found in Miao women’s embroidery. During our Stitch-in Social after her talk, she will demonstrate what she and Yoshiko now call the “ancient chain stitch.”

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Tomoko Torimaru

Dr. Tomoko Torimaru received her PhD from Donghua University, Shanghai, in 2004 for her studies on the history and technology of Chinese textiles. From 1995, she spent 15 years among the Miao People in Guizhou, China performing field research in collaboration with Sadae Torimaru. She is the author of and co-author of three books. She traveled around the world in search of tablet weaving and published her findings at the Textile Society of America’s symposium. She is currently a University lecturer in Japan.