The weaving of kidd fabrics uses a Kep-Kidd (a flat wooden slat pointed at one end) to lift individual warp threads to create designs. The various kidd designs resemble spots, lines, triangles, parallelograms, trapezoids, squares and rectangles. Some weavers use animals and human figures in their designs. The combination of designs creates even further Kidd designs. The kidd technique does not enable any round or circular designs.

Mud Mee is a one of the best known and widely used techniques of woven material. It is a process by which the designs are dyed onto the threads prior to being woven. The parts of the yarn which are to remain un-dyed are bound with a material that resists the penetration of the dye. Originally, rice straw was used but now it is usually plastic string.

Teenjok is fabric that is woven by villagers to be added to the lower border of their traditional wrap-around skirt. The weave can be very complex and beautiful and often helps to demonstrate the economic status of the person who wears the piece. In Thai, Teen means the border or bottom fringe edge and "Jok" means to delve or pick. Weavers use a sharp stick to pick the fibres so that various colours are shown on the material according to the patterns.

Praewa is the traditional Lao supplementary weft design consisting of floral motifs set within diamonds and parallel bands on a red background. The different coloured supplementary wefts are embroidered in by hand.

The metamorphosis from moth to cloth is amazing - something that has to be seen to properly understand. The entire production process is based on local traditions and methods. Beginning with the planting of mulberry trees for leaves to feed the silk worms, raising the silk worms, producing the silk yarns, bleaching and dyeing the yarns is followed by hand weaving methods, sometimes incredibly complex, passed down through generations. Silk is the product of the inherited multi-skilled Thai artisan, where the same weaver completes the whole "moth to cloth" operation by herself.

Native varieties of cotton (with long pods) are still grown in many parts of Thailand and some areas are now growing it commercially again. After picking, the remains of the pericarp are removed and the fibre is dried in the sun. This raw cotton is then put through a gin, a simple roller machine that separates the seeds from the fibres.

To make the cotton fibre easier to spin, it is pulled apart in the hands before being fluffed up using a bow. Spinning wheels are then used to extract and twist cotton fibres into yarn. It is only after completing all these very labour-intensive processes that the hand-spun cotton yarn is ready to be dyed and then, by using various techniques, woven into beautiful fabrics.

Yarns - cotton or silk - are dyed using the colours derived from herbs and plants. For example, the indigo plant is used to produce a rich blue colour and jack fruit tree bark produces a yellow coloured dye. It is however, very time consuming and hard to match colours exactly. Because of this, many now prefer to use chemical dyes which is a comparatively easier process. However, the tradition of using natural dyes, which had almost disappeared in some parts, has been revived in several communities during the past 10 to 15 years

It is thought that batik (the applying of waxed designs on fabric to resist dyes) originated in Java, Indonesia, and that it spread from there to other areas of the world, particularly in the Malay Peninsula, including the Muslim communities of the southernmost part of Thailand. Unlike the floral designs of Java, most of the batik made in South Thailand depicts marine life in bright colours and also themes of the forest and wildlife.
In Thailand, batik techniques are also found in some of the ethnic minority Hmong clans where narrow cotton or hemp cloth is indigo-dyed after relatively simple waxed patterns of straight lines are applied. Originally hand-loomed, these patterned lengths are pleated to form a perfectly round skirt.

Hilltribe Handicrafts