The traditional dress of Mongolia has remained virtually unchanged for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Master garment maker Bayarchimeg Sanduijav has meticulously studied and perfected the traditional method of construction and decoration of costumes from her home region in central Mongolia, as well as many other regions of the country.  Although Bayarchimeg grew up in Mongolia’s urbanized capital city, she spent most summers with her grandparents in the countryside. There, she learned the traditional crafts every Mongolian child should know:  to care for domestic animals, milk yaks and cows, make yoghurt and dried yoghurt cheese for winter, milk mares and make fermented Airag, cook and clean, and move their household to follow the livestock to good pasture. When this busy schedule permitted, her grandmother taught her to make clothing and other household goods, showing her by example the great care and respect in her work.

Bayarchimeg discovered that she loved to sew and continued to work on her stitchery in the winter months. Following her grandmother’s teachings, she became proficient in sewing many types of traditional Mongolian clothing, including the intricately appliquéd and decoratively stitched long coat known as the deel, and the richly ornate vests and jackets worn by both men and women. According to Bayarchimeg, the secret to her beautiful, even and strong stitches lies in the thread itself – spun from the wool of the camel’s mane.