Smocked pencil skirt

A patched pencil skirt with the tambal miring pattern. Tambal means: patch, up or down (Jasper and Mas Pirngadie, 1916: 143). This motif is formed by triangles and rectangles in each segment a special motif is depicted, the whole forms an overview in court circles important batik motifs. Old examples of tambal batiks show motifs that are strongly reminiscent of motifs on Indian trade cloths (Maxwell, 2003, p.148). The triangles can together form a larger motif. This motif is associated with patchwork pattern. \The kepala, the 'head' of the pencil skirt is typically Chinese, and batiked in the so-called gigi balang, where the traditional tumpal (2 x row of vertical triangles, in this case filled with lozenges and fern leaf) is overshadowed by the middle lozenge figure. These also consist of multiple parts filled with different motifs. \In Central Java this pattern, batiked on a kain panjang (hip cloth), is only worn by young aristocratic women at certain court rituals. On the north coast of Java, where this pattern is also worn outside court circles, it has no special significance. \There are several versions as to the origin of the patchwork pattern. The magical powers of the pattern could be traced back to the clothes of shamans in Mongolia which consisted of patches of fabric sewn together. Also in the Hindu tradition (with Buddhist and animistic elements) of the Tengereese in East Java, priests in the past wore clothes of old pieces of cloth, and in more recent times batiks with the tambal pattern. They indicated that they rejected any form of earthly luxury. Photo 60032537 shows a group of priests from Tengger wearing patchwork jackets that they called Ontokusumo (which is another spelling of Antakusuma). Similar was the clothing of Sufi followers who dressed in multicolored patchwork after three years of initiation, also to emphasize the idea of a life of poverty (Baker 2004, pp. 184,185)._____________________________________________________________________________ Pencil skirt with motifs applied in the batik technique. Batik is a textile decoration technique, called a reserve technique, in which hot wax is applied to a cloth in patterns using a wax pen (canting) or a copper stamp (cap). The cloth is dipped in a dye bath so that no dye can penetrate the covered parts and that part remains unpainted after the wax is removed. When a cloth is desired in several colours, this process is repeated.