Handa

Handa is based in upstate New York, offering a sustainable + alternative way to shop fabrics. Handa b

Handa is based in upstate New York, offering a sustainable and alternative way to shop fabrics. Hannah Haworth started Handa in 2015 as a way to market textiles from the indigenous Mangyan village she grew up in, in the Philippines. She has since expanded to include handmade and natural textiles from many different people and places. Handa only carries cloth that is made with 100% natural material

s and processes (dyes included), these are created by small communities and individuals across the globe that receive a fair wage and work with dignity. We specialize in rare ancestral textiles- where the techniques, materials and many of the designs have been passed down within their respective communities for centuries. By supporting Handa, not only are you letting the Earth breathe, but you are helping to maintain rich and beautiful cultural practices.

02/26/2026

Unpack some kendo cloth bolts with me 🥰 🌊
Obvi… Back in stock!

09/17/2025

This beauty just got here🌊
A botanical indigo kasuri cotton from a mill in Japan I’ve been working with for many years now- they still specialize in the traditional textiles of the region and use the old Japanese natural dyes. Kasuri is the Japanese name for ikat- meaning the pattern in the fabric is created by first dyeing the warp threads before they are woven. Then they need to be carefully aligned on the loom to create the desired pattern as it weaves up.
This one makes great garments like shirts, blouses and dresses as well as home decor projects like cushion covers, headboards, window treatments and of course, it’s a quilters delight. Linking to it now in stories/highlights

05/27/2025

Traditional Hawaiian Bedclothes pt 1
In understanding the iconic Hawaiian quilt, we first need the context of the traditional textiles of Hawaii, pre-1820 (before the missionaries of New England arrived). The common cloth then was called ‘kapa’, made from bark and bast fibers mostly of the paper mulberry tree which were beaten and felted to make the texture soft and then stamped with natural dyes in geometric patterns, the video excerpts here are from the 1926 ‘Moana’ an originally silent film I love which follows daily life in a Samoan village, the process shown is typical of Polynesian barkcloth making- very similar to Hawaiian kapa. ‘Kapa moe’ are the bedclothes made from stitched together panels of kapa. This was the final layer or coverlet in the fastidious arrangement of traditional bedding which was made up of many layers of finely woven pandan leaf (lauhala) mats(13-16) which were laid on the floors of the traditional house ‘hale’ (7-10, I included perhaps too many images of these unusually beautiful thatched structures)- the higher the status of the occupant, the finer the weave and abundance of these mats. In Kauai and Niihau there were mats made from a sedge grass called ‘makaloa’ (17-19), so soft and fine they were coveted by neighboring warriors and chiefs, sometimes taken as trophies.
Though some families had less- a typical set of bedclothes consisted of 4 undecorated barkcloth sheets topped by an intricately stamped kapa, all fastened together at the foot. Bedding was kept clean by washing it with a damp cloth and frequent sunning. When not in use it was rolled up in the houses rafters with pieces of sandalwood and seeds of the mokihana to keep it smelling sweet and to deter pests. Kapa making continues, though more scarcely and so has become a rare art form. There are of course many historical examples in museums and private collections. Infuriatingly, credit to the makers of these pieces is largely undocumented except the visitors that📸
1-5:except of Mother Tu’ungaita from Flaherty’s ‘Moana’
6via Los Angeles County Museum of Art
7.Pic by brother Bertram
10,13, imagesofoldHawaii.com
11.Pic by David Eickhoff
17-19 via the

05/11/2025

Mothers momming💞

05/08/2025

Back in stock! The most popular of the blockprints… You love the indigo sardines so much, I also brought you a 2nd fishy blockprint!! This one even has eels👀 wow!
I have a ton of these lightweight (though not sheer) cotton blockprints right now.. made in the ancient Indian tradition of carving wooden blocks and using them as a stamp with natural dyes. They are ideal summer dresses, shirts, tops… I’ve been on a kick making shorts and kids pants from them. Throw it on the table or the grass- the indigo helps keep mosquitoes away too!

04/06/2025

The birch bark Nokia (slide 9) is the most Finnish thing I’ve ever seen.
Erkki Pekkarinen, master of his craft

04/04/2025

Teeny wearable sculptures! By my talented pal who made my dreams come true when I asked her if she could make me some buttons…. She created a run of charmingly handmade and individually painted (!!) clay buttons for all of us
✨exclusively available here at Handa✨
I’m going to link the goods in stories, they are under ‘notions’ online. I hope they give you a spring-loving smile like they gave me🌷🌸🌱available while limited stocks last

02/13/2025

Posavina, Croatia❣️
The hours and hours of such very fine embroidery, and the dance at the end looks really fun to do. No wonder there’s so much joy in these pics

02/11/2025

🆕🍍! Golden gorgeous piña silk (yes, fiber from pineapples), hand dyed with aswete (Annatto) just arrived from the Philippines. It’s the bounciest, arguably the prettiest… it shifts through various golden caramel hues in the light and has these fine stripes that add to its glorious texture. This is a beautiful traditional fabric of the islands that had been produced the same way for hundreds of years- the fibers are so delicate and labor intensive that it’s impossible to machine weave. I wrote a couple posts on its history and production last year when I first began offering piña cloth (I just restocked it in undyed/unpatterned also), I’ll reshare in stories today.
How to use it… well. It’s clearly ideal for hypnosis. But I also think the traditional application of making blouses remains brilliant (look at those sleeves in the last 2 pics, look at that badassness), I’d like to make myself one for the summer. Most of my customers use it as window treatments, which is also brilliant because it’s the way it dances with light is so ethereal and wonderful. Available by the yard, linking it via stories and ofc always in my profile link

02/04/2025

Traditional indigo resist in China, a technique dating back to the Han dynasty 206BC - 220AD in which intricate patterns are put on fabric using a paste (made from soy and lime), usually applied with carved stamps or drawn freehand using tools (6-9). Once the paste has dried and the indigo vats have been prepared, they are dipped into the indigo (10-12) which cannot reach the cloth underneath the paste, and hung to dry before the paste is then removed by scraping (1,12). This process would traditionally be the last step of making this cloth as prior to the dyeing, the h**p and cotton would be harvested, processed into thread, handwoven on looms into cloth and then this narrow cloth would be sewn together in panels to make up a usable width for bedclothes, clothing and other utilitarian use. I offer the antique form of this fabric (handwoven, handspun, hand stitched) in both pieces that are large and wide and would have been used as bedclothes, and a 17” width by the yard and I also have small pieces and offcuts that can be used for patchwork, details, mending, etc.
-videos via
-pics 6,8,9,10,14,15 via thrummed
All others are my own or unknown source

12/23/2024

Knitters knitting

12/17/2024

Festive fabric round up!
1 homespun kala cotton, plant dyed crimson
2 antique indigo resist cotton
3 100%organic cotton Sherpa
4 hand woven embroidered birds and bees
5 Piña Silk, Filipino made from pineapple fiber
6. Antique block printed cotton
7. British single source wool, botanically dyed
8. Rajasthani blockprint, org cotton, plant dyes
9. Persimmon glazed h**p/cotton
10. Rajasthani blockprint, org cotton, plant dyes
11. Indigo plaid heirloom Indian cotton, handwoven
12. Quilted indigo dyed wool with org cotton backing
13-14. Rajasthani blockprint, org cotton, plant dyes
15. Rajasthani blockprint, org cotton and metal, plant dyes
16 homespun, handwoven desi wool
17. Homespun, handwoven desi wool with organic heirloom cotton
18 Homespun kala cotton, plant dyed olive
19 Japanese kasuri cotton dyed with botanical indigo
20 Japanese soft quilted cotton

Address

New York, NY

Website

http://www.handatextiles.com/

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