Woven dreams

T'nalak are woven dreams. T'boli women weave them, keen eyes and hands working together to judge lengths, to transfer patterns from memory to loom. T'nalak is made of the whitest abaca fibers connected end to end with the smallest possible knots and dyed red and blackest brown. Its patterns are handed from mother to daughter, or bestowed on the weaver in dreams by Fu Dalu, the spirit of the abaca. It is a product as much of quietness of spirit as it is of skill, for not all women weave, and not all weavers dream.

~ from the chapter "What is T'nalak?" by Maria Elena P. Paterno in the book "Dreamweavers"

T'nalak (in the foreground) and other indigenous hand-woven fabrics and clothes are also available at The Manila Collectible Co.