Handwoven Karen blouse with handstitched embroidery and fringe.

Dar Ku once consulted an old book of Karen motifs for weaving, in the refugee camp along the Thai/Burma border. This book disappeared along the refugee journey to Massachusetts but Dar Ku has remembered and reconstituted a number of the old patterns for her weaving work in resettlement in Massachusetts. Her most distinctive and beloved motifs are geometric ones. Over the years in Worcester and now in a nearby town where her family has bought a house, she has generated very numerous creative variations of geometrics. She also uses a variety of thread colors, particularly in the blue range. In weaving for RAW, she finds she has great creative license to explore her own fascination with geometric patterns.

She has also woven traditional Karen blouses (Chika K’Kyaw), such as the one shown here. These blouses are constructed by sewing together lengths of handwoven cloth, made on the back strap loom. Most all Karen families in Worcester own a set of traditional Karen costumes, worn on ceremonial occasions. Most of these are in red so this blue one is unusual.