Lanna Cotton: The intertwine bond of life and textiles
Cotton has a long history of being used in textile industry. There is an archeological evidence of cotton usage found in a historical remain aged around 3,000 B.C. at Mohenjo daro around Sindhu civilization area, nowadays Pakistan. In Thailand, cotton came after the early use of hemp. It is assumed that Thai people got cotton seeds and the process of getting yarn from India. Now the cotton are grown in Loei, Petchabun, Nakornsawan, Lopburi, Prachinburi, Sukhothai, Petchaburi, Nakornratchasima, and Kanchanaburi.
There are different species of cotton in Thailand and the local ones are white cotton (called 'Fai Khaaw') and light brown cotton (called Fai Toon or Fai Khi Toon).
'Fai Toon' is quite rare and more difficult for spinning than the white species because it gives short fluff and is not feathering. Its flowers are small with brown and short fluff. It is thus only for home use.
Other cotton species, on the other hand, are woven for textile industry. Mostly the hand woven cotton clothing is made in northern Thailand. Local people start planting it around May and harvest in November. Cotton seeds are collected before falling in order to prevent dirtiness. After that, they will be dried in the sun to discard insects and dirty. Then they will be pressed to leave the seeds before being spinned into yarn.
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