38 Roots Sewing Series: Philippines

Heidi of Elegance and Elephants has created a new sewing series to showcase several bloggers' cultural inheritance called, Roots. 

Have you been following? 

Oh.My.Goodness.

From Finland to Japan, what a trip it has been! Now let's hop on over to a country of over 7,000 islands and over 170 dialects, the Philippines. When I initially signed up, I had wanted to include my husband's Chamorro (aka: Guamanian) culture, but as I got deeper into research, I decided to just focus on my Filipino heritage (hey man… I'm the one sewing!). 

When it comes to Filipino traditional dress, there are several depending on location, but there is one that is significant to my heritage and it's the kimona and the patadyong. This outfit originated from the Visayas (where my family is from), first worn by women during harvest season, but soon became more common in everyday wear and even in formal settings. The kimona is a sheer blouse made from pineapple fibers, to be worn over a camisole. The patadyong is very similar to a sarong in which a cotton rectangular fabric is wrapped around the waist. The outfit is often accessorized with a "scarf" which is a small rectangular piece that rests on one shoulder.

Via internet

I wanted to make the outfit modern, wearable and most importantly comfortable for Lala. In my search for fabrics, I found this gorgeous white cotton fabric with floral embroidery at JoAnn's. It has just enough sheerness to give the option of either layering with a camisole (tank top) or not.  I drafted a pattern using pattern K from Happy Homemade Sew Chic Kids as my foundation. I omitted the front and back yoke, widened the neckline wand added a light gathering, extended the sleeves and moved the opening to the back side. 

I am in love with the sleeves. So light and wispy!

For the patadyong, I needed this to be "Lala friendly", meaning that it had to be uber comfortable and easy to put on or take off (yeah… we're still in the potty training phase). My original thought was to make a wrap skirt, but my niece (who was happening to hang out with me at the time) said, "Hey Auntie… why not make a skort?". Brilliant! Using the same sewing book, I used pattern D as my base and added a flap to give it that "sarong" look. Traditionally, the patadyong is made with a floral or striped fabric, but to give it a more updated look, I used Parson Gray Vagabond for Free Spirit. It still has that ethnic vibe, with a modern appeal.

And so the journey through my heritage ends here. It was a lot of fun to reflect and learn more about my culture through this sewing adventure. I am so-so happy to have shared this with you and I hope it inspires you to create something for your little one, and if you do, Heidi has a sew along link up along with an AH-MAZING giveaway HERE.

Check it out and good luck!

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Thank you, Heidi for having me!