Terengganu and Kelantan, Malaysia

Warp to sale

Warp set, motifs woven, thread checked.

Songket is sold as hand-woven with gold thread, and machine-made imitations and plated thread are hard to tell apart after the cloth is cut.

Weaver working at a wooden frame loom with warp threads hanging

Each piece names the weaver family, the thread batch and the loom days, signed by the family and checked by the shop.

  1. Warp. The warp is set and the family logs the start date.
  2. Weave. Motifs are woven and loom days are counted.
  3. Finish. The cloth is finished and the thread batch is checked.
  4. Sell. The piece is sold with its record code.