Purple Galore

This ready to wear kurung is said to be too dark purple once worn. So the owner needs some light colored beading to lighten the dress to be worn with light purple scarf.

The request started from just a simple line, to two lines to three lines. In beading and color selection three tones of purple shades were chosen and some flower sequins in there matching tones. I thought it would delightful to use the different purple tones beads and sequins for this plain jacquard purple dress.

However, time does not permit I just had to finished it off with just one pinkish line. Should the owner wish for me to continue after Raya then I will pick it up then. For now, I had to sign off for Balik Kampung.

Selamat Hari Raya

Maaf Zahir dan Batin to all lovely viewers.

Thank you.

VIP Kurung

I wonder whose dress this is. The material is pretty common to me but the request for beading is quiet extravagant. My job was to bead around the neckline and sleeve ends. The bead design should follow the abstract geometric design on the fabric. The area to bead is quiet large for me so it has taken me quiet a while to finish this project. I started to work around the neckline randomly choosing the geometric design in one matching color. Then switch to another motif with another color. I ended up using three colors that match the colors of the fabric. Brown, orange and gold Japanese Glass Beads are used and the resulting dress fits a VIP.

Beaded Chiffon Slip-On Tudung

Slip-on tudung is worn with a smaller insider (with awning) and very convenient as you don't need to apply any brooch or clasp under your chin for your normal square scarf. Still, I think not everybody can pull off this sort of tudung.

This one of Kak Su's is of brown chiffon material. When I received it the tudung is already embellished with iron on gold studs and diamond. My task is to add a few lines of Japanese Glass Bead around the face edge and lower edge. Working with chiffon is always difficult however I just stick to the seam lap. Add some white topaz with round white beads as tiny flowers at face edge.

Hope you like it Kak Su and look elegant for the dinner party.

Magenta and Lilac

Ok. Lama tak create post. This time, again, bead work on baju Na. Again, vibrant floral motif - minat sungguh Na dengan motif ini. Yang lain nya this time is the same floral motif is repeated kat lower body line.

This time also I switched from using pearl beads to rice beads. The triangular shape centers the vibrant floral with darker glass beads as the insides. Triangular vibrant floral buds are then stitched in between the larger vibrant floral motif. Very satisfying. Love the lilac and magenta colour tones.


For your information, magenta is also referred to as fuchsia. Fuchsia is from the electrifying pink tone. Lilac is from the purple tones. On this work the spikes for the vibrant floral motif is in two colors, magenta and dark purple. While the inside triangle made with rice bead is in dark magenta with dark lilac glass bead as the center bead.

Sulam Sayang is now on Facebook if you haven't realized yet. And so is Sulam Sayang E-Shop. Become fans of both and enjoy networking with those that love embroidery.


Happy beading and happy blogging!!

Back to Tradition

When finishing this work, what comes to mind is our Malay tradition - the tradition of fabric design. The half flower design reflects the same motif on our long lasting Songket. The rich and deep color of green brings back to memory those old traditional velvet baju kurung cekak musang. Although baju kurung cekak musang is mainly worn by Minang ladies, as a young girl I used to admire the simplicity yet rich cultural heritage of the dress amongst us Malays in the nusantara. And so I lay down here three pantuns to remind us of our heritage, with a modern twist:

anak cina memancing ikan,

ikan dipancing di muara sungai,

kalau kite sukakan sulaman,

sulamlah bunga bunga teratai

buah pauh buahnya masam,

mari dikait si anak nelayan,

sulam bukan sebarang sulam,

sulam di buat dengan sayang

bercicit si nuri di atas titi,

memanggil teman sambil menari,

saya bersulam untuk dinikmati,

sesama kita di blog ini

For those who share the same interest with me do balas my pantun accordingly. Thank you.

Hijau Menawan

Baju ni potongan kurung moden. Describe sikit baju ni - leher teluk belanga, no tulang belut just piping, lengannya lurus separuh dan kembang berjerut separuh, tiada kekek yang berasingan tapi bercantum dengan pesak yang dipotong agak ramping di pinggang.



Beadingnya di sekeliling leher depan dan dilanjutkan ke paras bawah dada. Disamping itu, ade beading jugak di bahagian bawah depan. Beading ni agak sarat kerana motif zig-zag di jahit dua lapis, hijau dan biru. Di dalam jahitan lurus zig-zag saya tambah labuci biru di ikat manik coklat. bronze.

"Fit for a Princess!"

These kurungs are Putri's two little daughters'. Had em done following the kids clothing. So my team worked from scratch - tayloring, tulang belut and beading. The dresses are our traditional kurung dresses, one with the normal pesak and the other as per Kurung Pahang with pesak gantung. The girls are gonna be so cute in these. Glamorous for sure!

The fabric is cotton with simple floral motifs in baby blue. We matched the neck stitching with tulang belut in baby blue. And completed the teluk belanga neckline with pearl buttons. Elaborate baby blue bunga tanjung adorns the girls' dresses. White Japanese glass beads vines roam the borders. Baby blue Japanese sequins and glass beads highlight the edging. Hm.. beautiful. A feast to the eye.

Sulam Tangan dan Sulam Manik Tudung Bawal

Terbaru! Tudung bawal bersulam tangan dan manik - pattern kuntuman rose, manjalara dan crystal bud. Gabungan ini saya lihat terkini di pasaran tudung bawal Kelantan. Harga mencecah RM160!

Untuk sulaman manik, di sini saya gunakan tiga jenis beads - mauve tubular bead, light purple seed bead dan slightly pink small crystal. Untuk sulaman tangan pula dua jenis jahitan saya gunakan - lazy daisy stitch untuk daun dan bullion stitch untuk rose dwi warna. "Hm geram! Macam nak picit-picit je bunge tu."

Saya sarankan kepada peminat-peminat tudung bawal bersulam, cubalah jahit sendiri. It's very rewarding bila hasil kerja tangan kita tu siap - seperti yang kita idam dan rancangkan.

"Hm. projek tudung dah siap boleh pakai raya ni. Nampaknye, color theme tahun ni purple lah. Boleh gabung dgn silver gray or soft pink."

Selamat Bersulam!!

Basic Chain with Sequin Padding

Looks like pattern basic chain with sequin padding ni telah menarik minat ramai peminat-peminat sulaman manik! Kali ini sequin yang saya gunakan adalah yang size kecil sekali. Jadi sequin padding di jahit pada setiap basic chain. Wah! Of course warnanye adalah warna yang sedondon dengan kain. Kali ini saya pilih warna highlight pada fabric. Bunga pada fabric adalah besar-besar and ada splash in red! So I choose red as my main color on the chains. Disamping itu warna oren dan coklat mendampinginya untuk ia kelihatan lebih interesting. Hasilnya? Tentulah cantik!!

Lihat pattern yang sama dengan tona warna yang berlainan di post-post yang sebelum ini - Baju Kak Long, I did it again, Baju kurung lovers - recommended edging.

Vibrant Red Florals

These vibrant red florals just burst out from the fabric. The concentric pattern contrasts well with the swirling lines batik design on the silk. The flowers actually have orange tips and medium size pearls. This is a funkier version of Soft White-n-Blue Floral.

Check out how I used my new small spring loop to work with this kurung sleeve edge bead embroidery at Sulam Sayang DIY.

Soothing Blue

Selamat tahun baru 2009!
Wah, lama tak pegang jarum dan menaip kat sini.

So today I'm posting Kak Ani's blouse which she wanted a simple bead lining at sleeves and collar. We liked the combo mix of the deep blue glass beads and the tiny baby blue pearls. (Had to let the floral sequins go Kak Ani as I didn't like the tone, sorry.)

Ni orang kata is "jalinan kasih" ye? Anyway, its your basic stem stitch with alternating beads and pearls. Sweet. Although I would like to add a dash of almond green to go with the fabric. Alas. Can't find the color.

Lembut dan menawan rupenye yek? Kalau pakai tidur ni mesti lena dan mimpi yang indah.

BTW, I'm working on a lot of fantastic projects for my niece, Na. No new designs but watch out for some fantastic colors. See you soon!!

Soft White-n-Blue Floral

This is a collaboration work between Mok Su Zana and myself on Kak Yan's baju kurung. I'm just finishing off the floral motif MSZ started. She will add manik tabur both at sleeve and neck edges. Cantik.

I'm kind of worried if the long stitches would get tanggled with the wearer's jewelleries like bracelet, wrist watch, bangle and tudung and necklace. Because of the design, the stitches are just going outlet from the central pearl bead, no criss-crossing at the back. hm...

Eventhough not finished, just wanted to share it with you here. Enjoy.

Rustic Brown

Baju kurung Kak Na ni quite dark untuk a young mom like her. Yang penting she likes it.

Na wanted this pattern and I couldn't agree more. For a career woman, she can wear this to the office with a plain tudung bawal with embroidery and still look glamorous if she wears it to a special event with crystal lined tudung bawal - very elegant.

When working this design its quite difficult to get the squares to exactly match up. The reason is the beads, of the two colors, are not the same size. These rustic coperrish brown and bluish grey are new colors I found from my regular bead supplier. I had to choose them to match the colors of the kurung. For any beading only the perfect color match will give the best results of the finished work. Of course then there's the workmanship.

Baju Kak Long

First thanks Sis Zima for the fabric (mine is still with the taylor for a kurung riau.. ya 'a 'auu. he.. he.. lawak pagi Sabtu.)

Secondly, thanks Kak Ani for taking the fabric coz orang lain tak terima tempahan baju dah. Also nice job in finishing the kurung early so I can start with the bead work. Love the jahitan kat leher. (Not sure what it's called, bukan tulang belut, mata lalat. Ape ek? Nanti chek degan Kak Ani.)

So Kak Long decided for this basic chain with sequin padding for her kurung raya. Although most of the time we share the same taste in fashion however in details there'd always be conflicting ideas and view. So we had quite a long discussion on what bead color and type to use. We settled with green (her preference), light pink (to highlight) and lavender (to tone with the flowers on the fabric). We wanted to use two types of sequins; emerald green and transparent pink flower shape; but found too flashy after few centimeters. So we lessen the pink sequin and the resulting color combination is just beautiful.

Can't wait for Raye padahal baru 6 Ramadhan.

Selamat berpuasa Ramadhan Mubarak.

Icy Blue

Siap pun baju Na yang nak kan pattern triple bracelet ni kat sleeve baju kurung nye.


"Selamat menjalankan ibadah puasa di bulan Ramadhan yang mulia!"


Follow this link to earlier triple bracelet chain with duo color.

Wedding Dress

(I took so many photos of the dress that I want to put all of them in this post. But I have to settle for a few. )

This project is bead embroidery onto thread embroidery pattern. The fabric is green satin.

This dress is to be worn for a wedding reception by a bride at the groom's residence.

So Kak Cik, my niece, wanted a heavily bead embroidered dress to really stand out for this special event. Naturally, I'm very honored to be given this job to enhance my beading skills and to beautify Kak Cik's wedding with this splendid looking modern kebaya.

This project is so fulfilling overcoming my mental block to work around "kerawang" (thread embroidered edging.)

Congratulations Kak Cik (Shikin) and Hafidz who are to be weded on the third day of Eidul Fitri at Wakaf Bharu, Kelantan.

Semoga Bahagia ke anak cucu!

I did it again.

Remember my favorite edging for baju kurung? Well it's the sequin padded basic chain. This time I've done it in Red, Lavender, Gold glass Japanese beads and pink plastics sequins. The result is just SShineyy!

This dress is a Raya dress for my next door neighbor Rozi. She wanted two lines edging with a little bit of pattern. I recommended this basic chain with sequin padding. It's just dazzling. The sequin I used here is slightly larger than the ones I used on Kak Yah's kurung .. so more sparkle.

I could just imagine on Hari Raya ... Rozi would wear this at her family's home in Teluk Intan, Perak. They would all gap and say "awesome". Then of course she would say "An beaded it for me :}}"

"Dah habis ganti puasa belum? Ni dah 12 Syaaban and the moon is 85% full."

Bunga Sekuin

This is for Kak Zah, my neighbour, yang nakkan a glamorous dress to wear on her daughter's wedding.

Dia kata, "Nak mengalahkan pengantin!"

"Color biar terang so orang nampak - merah ke."

So from some pictures yang I showed her, she wanted design manik tabur. I recommended further for bunga sequin untuk nampak lebih gah. (I tengok kebelakangan ni local beaders banyak yang guna bunga sequin dalam design yang padat, so saya pun nak try jugak, and here's my chance.)

"Bolehlah Zihan, asalkan cantik," katanya.

I think I could have done it better here but the dress looks glamorous as intended anyways.

Merah Menawan

Raya nak dekat, perancangan untuk baju raya dah dimulakan. Merah Menawan ni is on my baju tahun lepas. The fabric is silk tapi pattern dia bila dah siap baju macam orang tua sikit. So I've decided to upgrade it and here's the result.

The flower motif actually is similar to the fabric design. As the original design is in gold, the flower is not very visible. So I've repeated the flower design with this dual color bead embroidery (jahit manik). The result is just lovely.

Maybe I'll wear it to Kak Nor's wedding invitation and again on Raya.

Happy Beading!!