Hat craft

In the past, when daily life was predominantly filled with handicrafts, children's hats woven with intricate patterns embodied paternal love and good wishes from the whole family. To better protect young children from the chill, their hats normally had an elongated piece of cloth stitched at the brim, which was to keep the nape and shoulders warm. And the part was often woven with a variety of motifs such as flowers and small animals embedded with auspicious meanings. The China National Silk Museum, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, is showing from its collection fine pieces of such "hat tail "made centuries back. Although small in size, they demonstrate the refinement and complication of stitching techniques. For example, some pieces show a method by which cloth of different colors were scissored into various patterns and glued or sewed together to form a motif with a three-dimensional effect. The exhibition runs through to May 15.

12 am-5 pm, on Mondays, 9 am-5 pm, Tuesday to Sunday.73-1 Yuhuangshan Road, Xihu district, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. 0571-8703-5150.