Report on Piña Fabric
PIŇA
The Pineapple Fabric
Introduction
Many health conscious people love to have Pineapple as their favorite dessert. It's because of many health benefits of the delicious fruit. It protects from a simple flu as well as fights off free radicals that cause cancer. That's not all, it's not the only kind of fiber that a pineapple carries. Pineapple leaves are used to obtain Piña, a textile fiber that is used to make fabrics. As such, we are able not only to keep our internal system clean but also to achieve an outer elegant appearance!
Origin
Pineapple is mainly grown in sub-tropic countries, including Philippines, Taiwan, Brazil, Hawaii, India, Indonesia, and the West Indies. However, the credit for making textile fibers from pineapple leaves go to the Philippines.
History
Piña's name comes from the Spanish word piña which literally means pineapple. Piña fabric, the most luxurious native Philippine textile, is extremely fine, lightweight and translucent. It is sometimes combined with silk or polyester. It is believed that the making of piña was born out of necessity, since Filipinos under Spanish Colonization were forbidden to wear imported fabrics and their barong Tagalog was required to be sheer to prevent the concealment of weapons. By the 1600s, piña was one of the Philippines' main exports. The main producer of piña is Aklan, which has been creating it since the 16th century. The usual way of decorating this textile is with a style of hand embroidery called calado, which also originated in Aklan; a piece of piña thus embroidered is called piña calado.
Making of Piña Fabric Since piña is from a leaf, the leaf has to be cut first from the plant. Then the fiber is pulled or split away from the leaf. Most leaf fibers are long and somewhat stiff. Each strand of the piña fiber is hand scraped and is knotted one by one to form a continuous filament to be hand-woven and then made into a piña cloth.
Producers
Kalibo, Aklan is the main
The Pineapple Fabric
Introduction
Many health conscious people love to have Pineapple as their favorite dessert. It's because of many health benefits of the delicious fruit. It protects from a simple flu as well as fights off free radicals that cause cancer. That's not all, it's not the only kind of fiber that a pineapple carries. Pineapple leaves are used to obtain Piña, a textile fiber that is used to make fabrics. As such, we are able not only to keep our internal system clean but also to achieve an outer elegant appearance!
Origin
Pineapple is mainly grown in sub-tropic countries, including Philippines, Taiwan, Brazil, Hawaii, India, Indonesia, and the West Indies. However, the credit for making textile fibers from pineapple leaves go to the Philippines.
History
Piña's name comes from the Spanish word piña which literally means pineapple. Piña fabric, the most luxurious native Philippine textile, is extremely fine, lightweight and translucent. It is sometimes combined with silk or polyester. It is believed that the making of piña was born out of necessity, since Filipinos under Spanish Colonization were forbidden to wear imported fabrics and their barong Tagalog was required to be sheer to prevent the concealment of weapons. By the 1600s, piña was one of the Philippines' main exports. The main producer of piña is Aklan, which has been creating it since the 16th century. The usual way of decorating this textile is with a style of hand embroidery called calado, which also originated in Aklan; a piece of piña thus embroidered is called piña calado.
Making of Piña Fabric Since piña is from a leaf, the leaf has to be cut first from the plant. Then the fiber is pulled or split away from the leaf. Most leaf fibers are long and somewhat stiff. Each strand of the piña fiber is hand scraped and is knotted one by one to form a continuous filament to be hand-woven and then made into a piña cloth.
Producers
Kalibo, Aklan is the main