Baby carrier

This Miao baby carrier is typical in shape to other baby carriers in this region of southwest China. The baby would rest on the mother's back and be enveloped by the fabric of the carrier. Long straps, missing from this piece, are crisscrossed across the mother's chest, pulled around to her back and crossed under the baby, then taken back around the woman's waist and tied in front, effectively securing and holding the baby in place.

Looking closely at this baby carrier, you see that the majority of the embellishment is worked in a three-dimensional appliqué technique, called duihua. In duihua, silk damask cloth is first starched, then cut into small triangles. Two angles of the triangle are folded in to create the components for the appliqué. The pieces are used to build up the designs seen here, each triangle stitched in place. Embroidery, thought to be less time consuming, is now rapidly replacing duihua appliqué, although women in certain regions of Taijiang County still use this technique to decorate the collars of their festival jackets.

Flowers and plants are interspersed with the appliqué patterns, embroidered with Peking knots and outlined by a wrapped cord in white silk. This style of embroidery is called Dazi embroidery.