Get to Know your Sarong - The Batik Tools

So if you're well informed, you'll know that Batik is a traditional art medium and methodology for creating designs on cloth. It is a technique of applying wax to portions of the material and then dyeing it with colors, followed by removing the wax. We do realize that there's a lot of intricate craftsmanship being put into each sarong piece!

Now the question is, how exactly are they applying wax to the cloth? To answer this question, we'd like to introduce two traditional instruments in the art of Batik making - the Tjanting (Canting) and the Tjaps (Chops).

A 'Tjanting' is a hand drawing tool that functions as a wax pen. This ancient Javanese gadget is used to hold hot wax in a tiny copper bowl attached to a wooden handle. This gives an artist better control and precision when hand crafting batik pattern lines or dots onto a sarong material.

The 'Tjaps' are Batik stamps which are made of copper, where each stamp consist of patterns or designs that are cut out and shaped in detail. The tool is then dipped into wax and used to stamp onto the sarong material to get the best results of aligned and accurate repeat patterns or design borders.

As we continue to run about and meet all the amazing people behind the scenes while sourcing and researching for the best sarong selections, we also like to understand and share knowledge of the production processes as well as cultural references. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Read more about 'What is Batik' or shop for an Indonesian Batik Cotton Sarong!

Inspired by The Sarong Girl: Dorothy Lamour

Island fashion is timeless. While most would think that sarong fashion is a modern trend in the Western world, you’d be surprised to find that the art of sarong wear has been around for decades and is a pop culture that never goes out of fashion.

We are so star struck by this beautiful American actress and singer from the 1930s. Her trademark image of the girl next door with exotic Polynesian features has contributed to her film career where she typically played most of her film roles clad in a sarong. “Lamour appeared in a sarong in 11 of those films, meaning that fully two-thirds of her roles during that ten-year span did not call for her to wrap herself in any manner of South Seas attire”.

The biggest impact of her Hollywood career would be her famous role as "Ulah" in classical film The Jungle Princess (1936). “She publicly burned a sarong, the skimpy South Seas garment with which she had been inseparably associated since her first starring role, in Paramount’s 1936 tropical romance The Jungle Princess (Wilhelm Thiele) (Head and Calistro, 67)”

Looking at these vintage photos, we find her to be very fitting and attractive in a sarong. It’s almost like that everlasting advertisement of all time to show what a sarong represents on a woman’s body. “There was something indelible about the connection between Lamour and her trademark garment: audiences seemed to remember her not for the variety of roles she played, but for those roles in which she appeared in a revealing sarong.”

This South Sea heroine is a reminder to our love and passion for Sarong fashion and as the saying goes, “You Can’t Go Wrong with a Sarong!”

So tell us, what do you think about this sarong beauty icon?

(Text source: http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/22/lamour and note: these images does not belong to us)

Keep Calm and Wear a Sarong

Shop for your sarong right away at www.1worldsarongs.com

How Do We Make Sarongs? Discover: Screen Print and Batik Stamp Methods

Are you curious and want to know what goes on behind the scenes? 

Research and sourcing is a part of what we do to make sure that we deliver the best of the best sarongs to our customers. It helps us to give value to our products and appreciate the hard work of traditional craftsmanship.

So we've compiled some video snippets of what we've learned and really want to share this knowledge to all those who are passionate about our favorite island wear - Sarong.

Watch our video to discover these two hand made methods - Screen Print and Batik Stamp.


Got questions or comments? Leave your feedback and we'll be more than happy to answer!

1 WORLD SARONGS - NEW FOR 2009

Happy New Year 2009!

How was your holiday season?

Hope you had a safe and joyful time with your family, friends and coworkers.

Well, we sure had a busy time the last few months.

We have all kinds of new items coming up.

You're going to love them! They are all beautiful!

We've outdone ourselves again, if we may say so!

You know what they, "A picture is worth a thousand words!"

So we'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. Here's a few pictures just to give you a small taste of what's coming down the pipe.

We hope to have everything posted to our site and orderable within the next few weeks.

Stay tuned and keep an eye on 1 World Sarongs - New Arrivals

How to Tie a Sarong / Pareo coming soon!

Here's a sneak preview of our new How to Tie a Sarong / Pareo Video that we will be releasing soon!

Stay tuned... ;-)

How to Care for a Sarong - 5 Easy Steps

How to care for your sarongs is a question we hear quite often.

So, I asked Nancy J., who is one of our long time 1 World Sarongs customers (8 years) and has bought literally hundreds if not thousands of sarongs from us and therefore an expert in caring for sarongs. Nancy turns our sarongs into beautiful outfits. She's an independent seamstress / fashion designer who creates marvelous caftans / ponchos from our sarongs to sell to specialty boutiques in New Mexico.

Nancy called to place an order the other day(knowing we're getting our delivery and to get first dibs), as she does every few months, so I figured this was the perfect time to pick her brain and ask about how she cares for her sarongs.

So here's what she said:

1. Unfold your sarong and shake it out a little
2. Load into your washer machine (Nancy does up to eight sarongs at a time)
   
3. Set your washer to cold water rinse - with medium water level
   
4. When washer is finished take sarongs and shake out a little and separate them
   
5. Load into dryer with a fabric softener - delicate setting - for 30 minutes
6. After 30 minutes clean the lint filter and then run dryer for another 10 minutes
7. Take sarongs out of dryer and spread them out on a bed or flat surface (Nancy folds them in half)
8. Then run your hands over them to get any wrinkles out

Notes:

Make sure to take your sarongs out of the dryer right away so they don't wrinkle.

If you do decide to iron your sarongs make sure you set your iron on a very low setting.

Note, this is for the care of rayon sarongs and of course cotton or silk or poly should be handled differently. (We'll cover those at another time)

The advantage to washing this way is the dryer will set the colors of your sarongs so you don't have to worry about the colors running.

Wasn't that simple?

Ok, you got us...that was eight steps ;-) just checking to see if your paying attention :-P

This method applies to our lovely clothing too. So just use the same methods to care for your sundresses and other items from 1 World Sarongs.

Have an idea on how to care for your sarongs / clothing?

A different method?

A better way to do it?

Why not leave us your comments or suggestions?

Hope you're having a wonderful summer,

Terry

P.S. Just found a link to an interesting site about fabric care and doing laundry: http://www.textileaffairs.com/

1 World Sarongs is Finally Blogging!

That's right 1 World Sarongs "The Sarong Source" is finally web logging or blogging!

We've taken the next step in our webvolution...(web + evolution = webvolution).

We're excited that we'll be able to easily keep in touch with everyone and keep you up to date on what's going on over here. We have no shortage of stuff to blog about that's for sure!

As I write this...our next shipment is arriving from Bali to Los Angeles and should be delivered by Wednesday the 2nd of July 2008. That's great cause we're running really low on everything and need to restock right away...watch for many of our sold out items to come back in stock.

So far this year is off to a really great start with the introduction of our new clothing line at 1 World Sarongs - Clothing 2008!

Our new line includes sundresses, long dresses, skirts with matching tops, embroidered sequined satin sandals, some guys shirts and sandals and lots more!

We've had a wonderful response to our new exclusive line of clothing which includes batik patterns of hibiscus, hand drawn batik bamboo patterns and also lovely pastel colors with delicate embroidery.

Oh wow...we're going nuts just trying to keep up with it all. But we're so thrilled at the great response we're getting it's inspiring us to do more.

We have about 30 new sarongs in the pipeline too...batik sarongs, floral sarongs, cotton sarongs and much more...so stay tuned!

Thanks to all who have supported us over the last 7 or so years (yes seven- can you believe it?), and we look forward to hearing from you soon!

Peace,

Terry

1 World Sarongs

P.S. Sign up for our mailing list to get news and special offers... Mailing List

P.S.S. Here's a few of our latest testimonials...they actually make us blush...

"Sarongs are exactly as shown in pictures. Sarongs are high quality. Excellent color representation on website photos. Excellent customer service and delivery. With gas prices the way they are, it is not worth driving around looking for stores that sell sarongs, and then finding they don't have any you like, and driving more to find another store. This website is fast and convenient to use. If you don't have a trip to southeast Asia planned anytime soon then I recommend 1 WORLD SARONGS."

"We have shopped at 1 World Sarongs for several years. It has the best prices, great service and the products are shipped out quickly. The quality of their dresses and sarongs are excellent. I highly recommend 1 World Sarongs."

"I absolutely LOVE 1 World Sarong!!!!! Before I make any purchases I check every merchant I can find for price, shipping, and reviews. I seriously mean EVERY merchant. Ive been online a very long time. This has become habit. I World Sarongs cannot be beat. I found a sarong on their site for under $10.00, I found the exact same sarong at another merchant for almost $150.00. Ive called their customer service and they keep my info in their computers making ordering extremely easy.... I personally have not found a better online site for sarongs. Ive placed many orders with 1 World Sarong and plan on placing more. If anyone has question about this merchant, or would like more information feel free to email me directly. Deanna Steeves dmethe123@gmail.com"

"Everywhere I travel, people stop me and comment on what a beautiful sarong I have on & ask where I got it from and I tell them. Ive bought and received sarongs as gifts from other merchants over the years as well, but they dont compare to what you get at 1 World Sarong. The quality, the selection you get is unlike no other. Its hard to buy products online because you dont know what your getting until you get it, but 1 World Sarongs definitely delivers!!! You wont be disappointed in their products. The colors, the materials, etc.. - fantastic!!!! I wont shop for sarongs anywhere else!!"

The sarongs sold by 1 World Sarongs are the most beautiful sarongs I have ever seen!!! I already have four of them and I love them all, so difficult to choose a favorite one because they are all amazingly beautiful!! Sarongs by 1 World Sarongs are my new addiction!! I will definitely be ordering more. Customer service is excellent and very friendly. One is treated like a human being and questions are answered politely. I even got a free e-book describing the numerous ways to use sarongs. Shipping is also excellent. I pay for regular/standard shipment but my items always arrive sooner than I expect them. I also feel wonderful knowing that a percentage of my order from this company goes to charity. This company should be a model for other online companies.