From the Rainbow’s Varied Hue : Textiles of the Southern Philippines Roy W. Hamilton, editor: with contributions by Roy Hamilton and others. Los Angeles, California: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1998. (UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History textile series : no. 1)
ISBN 0-930741-65-X

(Available from Amazon.com for about $US35. Australian readers, try the Needlecraft Book Service at 03 9596 8742.)

Many needleworkers have a serious general interest in textiles, either because their needlework has led them in this direction, or because it is the interest in textiles that has led them towards needlework in the first place. In

addition, needleworkers know that study of the textile arts, even in areas that they will never attempt for themselves, helps them place their own work in a social and cultural context, as well as providing them with inspiration and encouragement in expanding their own knowledge and skills.

A series of publications emanating from the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History is proving to be a hugely valuable resource, and the first of these, published in 1998, is a study of the textiles of the mainly Muslim ethnic groups of Mindanao and Sulu. Much work has been published on the textiles of Indonesia, but this volume is one of the very few publications that deal with the textile traditions of the southern Philippines. Those who have an interest in Indonesian textiles will find much here that is familiar, but the textiles of the southern Philippines have enough of their own cultural significance to be greatly worthy of study in their own right. It is also a sad fact that many of these extremely localized traditions and practices are dying out, due to the huge cultural changes that have been occurring in the Philippines over the last century. Even now, on-the-spot research is almost impossible because of the civil unrest in this part of the country.

Obviously, the main interest for the