My grandmother is an expert in making Hmong skirt by her very own hands.  My mother told me that Hmong skirt is a unique handmade item that shows the Hmong heritage and identity.  In the Hmong culture, it is important for old and young women to know how to make Hmong skirts, but if one doesn’t know how to make it then she is a disgrace to her family.  Mothers passes their knowledge in making Hmong skirts down to their daughter and passes down to her daughters.  They keep the traditional way like this because Hmong people are poor and the women need to know how to make their own clothings for their family to wear.  They are able sew the Hmong skirts in between farming crops with their family. It was their past time because social media did not exist. In my mother’s generation many things have changed over time. Girls have the priority to go to school and have more opportunity to do something else. Many girls like my mother have their own dreams and wanting to become something different other than being a housewife. This is when girls lost interest and don’t have the time to learn to make Hmong skirts. Mothers knit the skirt and make their daughters wear it.  Without our mothers, wearing and learning how to sew the Hmong skirt would have forgotten.  
 

– Kashia Vang

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant