LESSON BOX
uPROJECT HOME uOVERVIEW AND CONTENTS
uIMAGE LIBRARY uSOUTHEAST ASIAN VARIANTS

uGEOGRAPHY
RAMAYANA IN INDIA:
uMIDDLE SCHOOL SCRIPT
uINTERVIEW WITH ROBERT GOLDMAN
u"THE RAMAYANA, an Enduring Tradition: its Text and Context"
uWAYANG ACTIVITY
uSTORY CLOTH ACTIVITY
uVOCABULARY uREFERENCES/
LINKS
The Ramayana in Southeast Asia

STORY CLOTH ACTIVITY
Story cloths are a popular traditional art form in Southeast Asia. Many fine examples can be found among the Laotian and Vietnamese populations in California. The textile tradition of illustrating stories through figures or symbols can also be seen in the U. S. European quilting tradition.
This version of the story cloth was done with paper collage pasted on a table cloth. It was done by Sheryl Corke's 6th grade class at Corte Madera Middle School in Portola Valley, California. 
These embroidered story cloths use sewing techniques used by Hmong communities in Laos, Thailand and in the United States. They were created by Donna Kasprowicz' 6th grade class at Corte Madera Middle School in Portola Valley, California.
Fabric story cloths 
Materials: 
  • Embroidery floss (array of colors and six of each) Approximately 60(skeins?) needed for 50 students.
  • Cotton fabric (prewashed and ironed) 1 ½ yards each of 3-4 colors.
  • Embroidery needles
  • Scissors
  • Embroidery hoops (one for each of the five scenes (approx 8" in diameter)
  • Five sheets of art paper (12" by 12")
  • Colored pencils
  • Tailor's pencil that washes out of the fabric
  • Quilter's cutting graph board and cutter. This makes it easier to cut squares or triangles needed for the boarder. It is easier for the students to sew squares. Triangles are a little more difficult to align when putting them together. It is also recommended that you use a tailor's pencil to mark a "sewing line on each square. Students just sew directly on that line. This enables you to align rows of squares more easily when you are sewing them across. (# of picture)

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    Instructions for fabric story cloths: (Under construction) 
    Day 1 - distribute a small piece of fabric to each student approximately 3" by 3", needle threaded with floss (use all of the strands at once), and an individual hoop (small size with diameter approximately 3". 
    Have them draw an oval on the their fabric and show students how to do the chain stitch. Diagram 
    Simultaneously, you need to divide the class into 5 groups. Each group will draw one of the five most depicted scenes. Student interpretation will vary. This is a crucial part of the process. Once those five scenes are drawn and all to scale, they will be able to trace each figure or piece of scenery on to a fabric panel (12" by 12") using a tailor's pencil and placing the picture on an overhead projector or up against a window. Each group will divide who is going to embroider what, then put each panel on a hoop