RESEARCH DATA:

The Kalinga kain appears in many designs and forms, one of which is this textile from the collection called the ginamat or gilamat. The ginamat or gilamat features an embroidery design of continuous diamonds and triangles, or zigzags, which are known to represent the mountain landscape of the area (Anderson et al., 2010). These embellishments are embroidered against the red and blue striped background of the skirt, representing the ground and the sky, respectively (Anderson et al., 2010). The warp edges of the skirt are woven with supplementary weft yarns, forming bands of patterned lines in blue, red, and yellow on each of the two warp edges. These bands of supplementary weft or brocade yarns have become one of the defining features of Kalinga skirts, specifically the ginamat or gilamat (Anderson et al., 2010). The ends of each warp edge are hemmed to prevent the weft threads from unraveling.