Peranakan Batik Dress.

My daughter bought me a 2 metre piece of Peranakan batik on a recent trip through Singapore. It is a beautiful quality cotton with a repeated pattern of flowers, butterflies and a bird of paradise, as well as a border along one edge and on one end of the piece. She thought the bird of paradise was calling out to be embroidered - and she was right.

My imagination got to work straight away, but I didn't think to take a decent photo beforehand. 🙄  Embroidering a bird and cutting it out to frame or turn into a cushion seemed a waste. I didn't need a screen. The piece cried out 'dress' to me.

I phoned the dressmaker I have used in recent years. She was overseas and wouldn't be back for nearly 3 weeks (today, in fact!). I was impatient. The two dresses she has made for me are basic muumuus, and she gave me the pattern for safekeeping. I dug it out and tried it on the batik.

If I cut the front across the width of the fabric, and the back along the length I could do it.

So obviously I did!

With the two pieces cut I headed to Create in Stitch  to buy some cotton iron-on interfacing. The major fabric shops have plenty of cheaper polyester lining and interfacing, but this needed to be cotton. While iron-on was at risk of puckering, this does provide an excellent backing for embroidery.

I simply ironed the interfacing to the back of the two pieces and cut around them. I put the pieces together with French seams and pieced together enough of the off-cuts to make a pocket which I stitched to the left side seam to hold my phone (my left hand is in the pocket in the photo).

It was a little awkward in the 12" hoop, but not unduly so. the wide neck and generous arm openings provided plenty of room to get a hand in.

I had enough DMC stranded cottons to match the colours of the bird, so set to work as soon as I finished the beehive cushion I was making for St Margaret's.

I worked the body of the bird first - a lot of blanket stitch, chain and French knots, the print shape suggesting both colour and the stitch.

The tail worked the same way but this time the stitching was all white.  - stem stitch, pistol stitch, detached chain and more French knots.

I ironed it and tried it on.  The embroidery sat nicely towards my right hip. As much as I just wanted to wear it, I wondered if it needed another embroidery higher up on the right hand side as balance. Family opinion confirmed my suspicion, so I set to work on a butterfly.

The stitches are mostly the same - stem, chain, buttonhole (or blanket), pistol, French knots - but I added some bullion knots to capture some squiggles on the outer wings. I'm very pleased with the impact, although it isn't easy to photograph the whole thing to show it.

This shows the relationship of the two embroideries on the front of the dress. I think it works, but wearing the dress will allow me to gauge opinion. I think embroidering much more would detract from the artistry of the batik makers. This is a significant achievement in batik printing. It is not easy to get this level of colour mix and detail. 

I can see this getting a lot of wear in what promises to be a very hot summer. A gift that very much keeps on giving. 

And I have Singapore Orchid earings to go with it.!