Drafting a Kebaya Blouse Pattern

The idea for the project was to take a traditional garment with sentimental value, traditionally worn at cultural ceremonies, and create a modern, everyday piece.

I have inherited several of these beautiful blouses, which sadly are too small for me. This one belonged to my Mum but I also have some from my Aunties and Grandmother. For me, the Kebaya is synonymous with celebrating the women in my family.

Whilst beautiful, the delicate fabrics, intricate embroidery and form-fitting shape are not compatible with my current lifestyle looking after young children. I wanted to take this garment and transform it into something modern and easy to throw on in an every day context.

I used the original garment to draft a base pattern, from which I made a master pattern to set aside. On my working pattern I graded up 2 sizes.

I whipped up a couple of toiles, making further fit adjustments like cropping, eliminating darts, widening sleeves, adding a tie front closure and modifying the curve of the bodice centre front, shaving off some excess fabric from the lower front. I also needed to make a broad back adjustment, to achieve the right amount of ease across the shoulders.

Toile #1

Toile #2

Toile #1 (tension across shoulders despite grading up 2 sizes)

Toile #2 (after broad back adjustment)

Wearable Toile:

During the making of the third wearable toile, I figured out the order of construction and fine-tuned my preferred finishing techniques for the final garment.

This 3rd version included a facing and interfaced hems, which I ultimately decided against in my fourth and final version. The other change I made at this stage was to lengthen the ties to make them more functional.

Here is the final Kebaya. I had to crop it a little more to make it fit onto only 1 meter of fabric.

The Story Behind the Fabric Choice:

Having lived abroad for 20 years, I recently moved back home to Melbourne, Australia. One of the first things to-do on my bucket list upon returning was to go fabric shopping with Mum. Oh how I had missed being able to do these simple things over the years–hopping on a train together, strolling along the Yarra River, having a (Melbourne!) coffee, chitter-chattering while shopping.

We visited Tessuti Fabrics on Flinder's Lane in the city, (where upon entering I was welcomed by Lisa herself, who had recognised me instantly from Instagram! Proud moment for sure.)

Ego boosted, I obviously had no other choice but to purchase a stack of fabrics (*stash cupboard groans in background*), one of which was a beautiful indigo Shibori crinkle crepe (unsure of exact composition as I can't locate it on their website anymore, unfortunately).

I love the fact that I found this fabric together with Mum, and that the pattern is traced from a Kebaya I bought for Mum in Singapore, and that this style of garment in general is a celebration of all the lovely ladies in my family.  

I feel incredibly proud to have worked towards being able to draft and modify patterns to create meaningful garments that tell my unique story.

You can read more about my process over on the In The Folds Blog.