Things Textiley in Greece: Peloponnese Peninsula Traditional Costumes

Vocha, Corinthia, Greece, early 20th century

Layers of wool and cotton heavily embroidered. Silver ornament.

Belesi, Argolid, Greece, early 20th century

The heavily embroidered red vest is all the more eye-catching when worn with the white over-vest.

The many different types of embroidery reflect the many outside influences over Greece's long history.

Turkish influences in style, techniques and materials.

Both men's and women's garments were densely embroidered...

....while in some areas they were elegantly simple.

Women's costume from Hydra in the 20th century.

The wide -sleeved blouse with the fitted, woollen, embroidered jacket are elements seen in the current Evzone guard uniform I looked at in the previous post.

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Man's dress 'Kanavista' of the Argolid plain, Peloponnese, early 20th century.

I'm sorry about the quality of this image because I just love this garment.

It looks simple but close inspection shows the masterful use of a plaid material. 

The padded areas over the shoulders and across the chest and the ease of movement allowed by the pleated skirt suggest it is derived from a working garment or a garment worn in battle.

And I thought different coloured buttons on a garment was a contemporary thing.

The many layers of multi-directional pieces would add strength and warmth to the fabric

Bridal costume, Argos, Peloponnese, 19th century

This is an interesting bridal costume because it showcases so many different fabrics, embroidery techniques and threads all on one garment.

Apron: Appliqued ribbon, rick rack and lace.

Pin tucks, lace inserts and ribbon rosettes.

Machine made.

Cross stitch on cotton and woollen fabrics.

Blackwork in running stitches and whitework using satin stitches.

Densely worked wool on wool in a variety of stitches.

Hand embroidered.

Is the bride showcasing her embroidery and dressmaking skills?

Modern Greeks dressed to be outside for a cold winter's afternoon on a public holiday.

Nyonya Wedding Dresses and Bridal Chambers In Pinang Peranakan Mansion, Penang, Malaysia

1900's Marital bed

Gold painted and lacquered wood with embroidered silk panels.

Bridal Garments

Later marital bed.

Silk embroidered bridal over-garment.

Marital Bed 1900's to 1920's

Detail of gold work embroidery on silk satin trimmed with rabbit fur and silk fringe.

Bridal Dress 1920's

Bridal Dress 1930's to 1940's

Each of these rooms in the mansion was set up to display what the bride wore and where she slept over 3 different eras from the 1900's to the 1950's. These rooms were also filled with lavish collections of Venitian glass, mother of pearl furniture, ornaments from around the world and opulent jewellery.

I could have stayed for a couple of hours but our guide was eager to show us treasures in the rest of this beautifully restored mansion.

Nyonya Baba Culture in the Straits of Malacca - Traditional Garments

Georgetown, the old part of Penang, is a well-preserved UNESCO World Heritage Site. There one can explore a unique culture that began in the 15th century when the Straits of Malacca was one of the busiest shipping routes in the world. Chinese migrated from southern China and settled up and down the Malay coast and into Indonesia. They married the local Malays and over time developed a distinct culture reflected in their houses, clothing, customs and cooking - the Nyonya-Baba culture. Here is a link to a Nyonya's blog where she explains her origins.

The above image is outside an award winning restored Nyonya Baba mansion in Georgetown. It shows the Baba (the man) in typical Western formal men's dress of the day while the Nyonya (the woman) wears the traditional garments of her culture.

An elaborately embroidered blouse is worn over a wrapped sarong.

The sheer fabric is silk crepe or Swiss lawn embroidered with silk thread in satin stitch and long and short stitch. The area around the hips is edged in buttonhole stitch before the centres were cut out to make intricate organic patterns. The blouse is secured with 3 to 5 elaborate, jewel-encrusted pins.

The fitted shape with the long front is typical. It certainly emphasised the wearer's main role in life - to produce heirs.

However, when the woman turns 60, after 5 cycles through the Chinese horoscope, she refits her wardrobe with simpler more boxy garments usually made in heavier more opaque fabrics. 

The under garment has a starched raised collar like the stay of a men's shirt and it is held together with gold studs as found on 19th century western men's formal wear. This shift to clothing elements normally worn by males is interesting. In this matriarchal society, as she ages and becomes a grandmother the woman's role changes from child bearer to being head of her family.  

She still wears her costly pins, kersang, to show her family's position in society. The Nyonya line began with a Malay born woman who owned the land and passed ownership on to her daughters, giving them long-lasting and legal authority. At the same time, the Chinese-born immigrant Baba set up the business and if  he was successful brought wealth to the family - a powerful combination.

A 1930s matron's/grandmother's over garment made from apple green embroidered flowers on lavender Swiss organdy. The 3 pins are circles covered with gold and rubies.

The starched collar of the under garment has gold studs.

A Nyonya Matriarch

The wealthy Nyonyas were expected to master the skills essential for finding a good husband - an effective beauty regime, how to behave in public, and how to run a household. 

Above is a painting on the side of a Georgetown building of 3 Nyonyas having afternoon tea.

In several museums, I did notice it seemed pretty important also to learn how to master bead embroidery because one was expected to make one's own bridal shoes.

Here is a mother teaching her daughter to bead. The daughter's unmarried status is evident by her side-buns hair style. Her married mother wears her hair in a single high bun. Gold, silver and jewelled hair pins, Cucuk Sanggul, are worn in the buns. 

Bead-embroidered shoe fronts still in the frame.

A pair of velvet beaded bridal shoes, embroidered with phoenixes and peonies, made sometime before the 1930s.

A pair of beaded pink and green check bridal shoes made in the 1920s or 1930s. 

This culture was very open to new ideas and trends. Trade ships brought the latest commodities and luxuries from around the world and the wealthy travelled to other countries. Evidence of this can be seen in the Art Deco influenced design this modern bride worked on her beaded shoes compared with the more traditional floral design seen displayed under the shoes.

I must say my family was very patient as I absorbed and documented what we saw in the museums we visited. They would even come and find me if they saw something they thought I might be interested in. I am so fortunate to be fully supported by my family in what I do. 

Malaysia - Things Textiley

At the end of 2015, our annual family holiday was spent in Malaysia.

Malaysia has lots of things textiley to interest those who are interested in fibres and textiles.

Here am I standing beside one of the king's guards inside his guard house, where it was in the shade and breezy (hence the flying hair) while it was 34 degrees and body dripping humid in the sun.

The king's guard is wearing an impossibly clean white uniform trimmed with gold braid and epaulettes. Wrapped over the top of his uniform is a length of cloth secured with a gold belt. It is the traditional Malay men's garment akin to a sarong and called a sampin. The shimmering cloth is handwoven from either cotton or silk (I didn't risk bending down to confirm the fibre with that bayonet so close by) with a supplementary weft of gold to make the elaborate traditional pattern. His songkok hat completes the traditional Malay man's ensemble.

I took this pic to capture the line up of buses that look like colourful ants with their antenna-like mirrors. It was only when looking at the image later I saw I had also caught a sampling of the typical dress worn by people of different races and beliefs.

Left and wearing blue are Muslim Malay women with their body garments covering their whole body except for their hands and head. Their heads are covered with hejab scarves tied and pinned in place.

In the middle are 2 Indian Malays, the left one wearing a Punjabi suit with its full trousers pulled tightly around the waist with a draw string and the pant leg pulled in by a cuff around the ankle. A long, loose fitting simply-shaped shirt is worn over the top.

The other Indian Malay woman is wearing a sari outfit, a 5 to 9 yard length of cloth skilfully wrapped around her body and secured by folding and a tight fitting short-sleeved choli blouse. 

Both of them have finished off their outfits with matching baseball caps which may be compulsory wearing for their tour party. 

The 2 other people in the image are dressed in the international style found in most countries.

Many of the religious and sacred sights we visited had sumptuous old embroideries.

A banner hung outside a Chinese ancestral worship centre.

A detail of the above banner shows the traditional Chinese gold and silk embroidery on a silk ground.

These fire men's jackets caught my eye. Firstly I wondered why firemen would wear camouflage and I noticed the high intensity colour of the camouflage. Are there two oxymorons at work here?

Every city in Malaysia has its 'Silk Centre' where the fabric stores are found side by side. Each one is an Aladdin's Cave (for the Textiley Person) with the regular shop-front opening up as one is lured back into it's depths, with fabrics stacked floor to ceiling down every narrow aisle. Digging and persistence will lead to the discovery of treasures.

Etsy Ravenmadeworks - Mola Pillows

Ravenmadeworks

I have made a series of pillow covers using refreshed vintage molas and put them in my Etsy shop Ravenmade Works.

Molas are the embroidery of the Cuna Indians of Panama. They live on the San Blas Islands on the Atlantic side of Panama.

This well-worn mola (above) is a relatively simple design with strong mirror symmetry, all features of older traditional work.

The back shows the ground fabric has been made from 3 different fabrics pieced together and they have faded at different rates.

The front view of the 3 different red fabrics making up the ground. 

Orange then black fabric were layered on top of the red ground then the 3 layers were basted together. Smaller pieces of different coloured fabric were inserted into specific areas according to the design - see the green and white areas above. 

The design was drawn or traced onto the top most layer then basted with thread along the design lines. The top layer was cut about 1/8" on each side of the line before the cut edges were folded under. The folded edges were hand creased then the edges were hand stitched down. It is an embroidery technique known as reverse applique or cut back applique.

The traditional designs evolved from elaborate body painting and reflected things observed in the environment. 

This mola has inserts of printed cloth most likely acquired by trade or from visitors to the islands.

'Mola' means blouse and they were made in pairs - two identically designed rectangular pieces, one for the front and one for the back of the blouse. The horizontal line denotes the top of the panel, often accentuated with rick rack.

The above mola is more complex in design and detail and has many different inserts suggesting it was made for the tourist market. 

The back shows the density of the hand stitching necessary to execute a more complex design.

The purple strip at the top was likely the fabric the mola was attached to to make the yoke of the blouse.

It was very popular in the 60s and 70s for travellers passing through the island archipelago to buy molas. Women would sell their worn blouses and make new ones to wear. 

Today most mola production is for the tourist market generating valuable income families have become dependent on. Many contemporary molas are made in a wide variety of sizes, are often simpler, as above, or more complex to get higher prices and are brighter in colour. They are incorporated into clothing and home decor items to add value to the product.

Traditional Mola Blouse worn by a San Blas woman.

Morocco - Dyeing and Leather in the Fez Medina

The tourist brochures talk of being in the Fez medina as stepping back into the Middle Ages. Many traditional skills are still practiced and old-world services still offered. This likely to be one of the reasons why it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

If you want a worn article of clothing freshened up, visit the street dyer, drop off your faded garment and  pick it up once it has been over-dyed.

The Fes medina has a dyers' district where dyeing skills have been handed down through many generations. Hand-woven woolen and cotton cloth, tanned hides of camels, goats, cattle and sheep are tanned and dyed at a number of different tanneries.

Earthen vats are filled with dye materials - ochre, poppy, pomegranate and henna for reds, date stones for light brown.

Fullers stomp on the hides in the vats then lift them out. It is back-breaking work for only the strongest. And the smell... but you probably don't notice it when you work there every day. Visiting tourists are handed a fresh sprig of mint to help the delicate ones cope with the smell. I found the smell to be not too bad, but I did remind myself we were there in winter. In the summer heat, I may have gagged.

The small yellow hides are saffron-dyed lamb skins to make the softest of leather.

From our high vantage point in a leather goods store's verandah, we stood for a long time watching all of the different activities going on.