The coiled embroidery is unique to the Tu minority. It embodies profound cultural connotations of the Tu people. In eastern mountain areas on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the industrious and sincere Tu women have inherited the traditional ethnical art of embroidery from generation to generation. Their embroidery works are exquisite in craftsmanship. Appearing around the 4th century AD, the coiled embroidery has acquired multiple values such as in folklore and aesthetics in its thousand-year development.
The coiled embroidery uses choice materials and is processed exquisitely. Normally, pure black cotton cloth is chosen as the bottom material and some facing material is affixed to it. The coiled embroidery is made with lappet threads of seven colors, including red, yellow, green, blue, cassia red, purple and white, which are harmoniously matched. The stitch for coiled embroidery is very special. Two threads of the same color are prepared, one for coiling and the other for sewing. The coiled embroidery is made directly with hands without any shelf. The embroiderer holds the cloth with the left hand and the needle with the right hand, hangs the sewing thread over her right chest and passes the sewing thread through the needle's eye, coiling while knitting in plain and sewing while knitting in purl. Although stitch with one needle and two threads cost time and material, the finished work is thick, gorgeous and durable.
In its thousand-year history, the coiled embroidery is chiefly handed down from mothers to daughters, and also among sisters and sisters-in-law, and from mothers to daughters-in-law. The coiled embroidery of the Tu minority has a riot of colors and vivid patterns. It can embody the aesthetic attitude and value judgments of the ethnic group in terms of form, color, quality and connotation.
