Bilum Videos
Bilum is Papua New Guinea's stretchy handmade fabric, which has traditionally been created to make bags. These strong, stretchy carry-alls have long straps which can be held in place on a carrier's forehead, to take the weight of carrying shopping and babies, conveniently leaving arms free.
Made in the traditional way, bilum bags are handmade using local plant materials which are prepped for use as a form of yarn. Reeds, fibre from tree bark, sisal, or vine are twisted into continuous lengths of consistently-sized yarn. This natural yarn is woven into a stretchy fabric with a single needle using a knotless netting technique.
Nowadays, bilum makers also use store bought string or yarn, expanding their color palette. Besides the gorgeous patterns woven into bags, items like feathers and fur are sometimes added as decorative details.
In the past few years there’s been a creative movement in PNG that's given rise to a radical shift in the way people think about bilum, and an expansion in the way it's used.
A shift happened in bilum-making PNG communities when Florence Jaukae Kamel, a Papua New Guinea artist and designer, radically changed the way people thought about the fabric. Florence challenged the norm and started to make dresses and hats using the bilum technique, considering bilum as a fabric rather than just a process for bag-making.
This artistic shift in thinking about bilum as a design element and technique has helped spread the word about bilum and bilum-makers.
Below are videos that give insight into the making of this amazing hand-crafted fabric.
· Don't miss: Read Bilum for more about this amazing technique and Florence Jaukae Kamel, who is organizing bilum artists and crafters.
· And, for another type of single-needle fabric-making technique, see Nalbinding and How to Knit Like the Vikings.
POPULAR POSTS
 Follow a tutorial for making a patchworked bag with Sashiko topstitching. |  Follow tutorials for how to create traditional Japanese embroidery stitching. |  Explore a library's digitized vintage maps, which you can download for free. |  Learn from a museum textile curator how to best care for your quilts. |
 Learn to make a basket weave pattern quilt from scraps of fabric. |  Sisters Lorna and Jill Watt create amazing yarn bomb installations . |  Ceramic artists create fantastical structures using magnetic clay. |  Learn about a Viking fabric-making technique which pre-dates knitting. |
 Follow a tutorial for making a bilum bag - PNG's traditional fabric. |  Learn to make a pinhole camera; develop paper film with common items. |  Learn about a stretchy fabric made with connected loops. |  Free digitized knitting magazines 1800 - now. |