For this week's Sleeves On Saturdays edition, I posted what I called the Imelda Sleeve especially for Tania who wanted to make a traditional dress to wear to a wedding. Karen was so kind to send some information about the sleeve. "I am Dutch and live in the Philippines and sew! It would never have occurred to me that any body else would be interested in this type of sleeve. You see them all the time here mainly in formal wear and especially for weddings as well as at political events! Traditionally the fabric used is from pineapple fibers and very stiff and crisp. So the sleeves hold their shape even with just an organza underlining (we can't get silk organza here unfortunately). They are often pressed and flattened so they have a crease along the fold."
Now I'm intrigued, I want to find some fabric made from pineapple fibers. Does anyone know where this fabric might be available? I'll do a little searching on the internet and if I find something, I'll let you know. Thanks Karen for the information.
Karen also attached a link to some wonderful pictures that I thought I would share with all of you. The dresses are so pretty.
I love the dress pictured below.
You can find the link to the above pictures here.
These and other dresses can be found here.
Thanks again Karen for the links and the wonderful information.
Here's a link to Karen's blog, http://www.welovesewing-manila.blogspot.com/.
Here's a link to Karen's blog, http://www.welovesewing-manila.blogspot.com/.
Beautiful dressess. Here is a link to oineapple fibre fabric http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/7844863-AA.shtml
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link Sheila!!
DeleteAll these dresses are wonderful, I just read your pattern alteration to get the manga and am delighted! Thank you for sharing this, it's a great tutorial. I hope Tania send photos of that dress she has designed, so part of her success will be yours.
ReplyDeleteThey are beautiful dresses.
ReplyDeleteWhat also caught my eye was the men's shirts. Are they underlined with the under layer ending as short sleeves? Is the front and back under layer tucked in? I don't think it's a tshirt
They are actually t-shirts. See Karen's comment below. The shirts are lovely.
DeleteThanks for quoting me and for the link to my blog (which is sadly ignored)! I doubt if you can get pina or jusi (the traditional fabrics used to make both ladies dresses as well as the men's shirts which are called "barongs") outside of the Philippines, but if I stumble across any, I'll let you know. Nowadays women's dresses are made in a much wider range of fabrics and embellished with a lot of beading. Both pina and jusi can be dyed but usually are sold in off-white/natural colour like the men's barongs in the photos above. The fabric is often pre-embroidered specifically for the men's shirts. This is sometimes still done by hand in villages specialising in this craft which, like a lot of crafts, is sadly dying out. Men's shirts will sometimes be underlined with organza depending on the transparency. On top of that, they will usually where a separate long sleeved thin cotton shirt or a T-shirt underneath
ReplyDeleteGo to www.dharmatrading.com, they have two pineapple fiber fabrics! Dharma Trading's specialty is fabric dyes, but they have wonderful fabric available to dye.
DeleteAmazing how these designer dresses incorporate their native Philipino sleeve, very impressive and very beautiful.
ReplyDeleteDon't you just love the embellished shirts the men wear? They are masculine and gorgeously embroidered and tucked in such a beautiful way, sheer too!