Indonesia's Traditional Fabrics

Indonesia is a country which has so many cultures and traditions. One of the greatest Indonesia’s heritages is traditional fabric. In every region/island in Indonesia, there is at least one kind of traditional fabric.

 

Here is the most famous traditional fabrics/kain from Indonesia:

1. Kain Batik, from Java island

* Silk Batik, from Central Java, such as Pekalongan batik, Solo batik, Yogyakarta batik, etc.

* Kain Batik from West Java, such as Cirebon Batik, Tasik Batik, Batik Garutan

* Each of the kain/fabric represents the localities, values, even history.

* The motif from kain batik usually made by hand (hand drawn) using “canting” that contained liquid wax to arrange in layers wanted motif. There are also Batik Cap (stamped batik) and Printed Batik.

2. Kain Songket (Brocade Hand-Woven Fabric), from Sumatera island

* Kain Songket usually came from West or South Sumatera

* Fabric with gold and silver metallic brocade, originally used real gold threads, therefore it luxurious and used to wear as clothes of the kings, back in the Sriwijaya empire period. Nowadays, songket is worn on special occasions such as wedding or any other formal reception. 

3. Kain Jumputan Palembang (Dyed Textile from South Sumatera)

* Jumputan usually made from silk and has motif on all over the fabric.

  * Jumputan recently, has been made by stitch and dyed method. Stitch the thread to the fabric by tying certain pattern. The next step is pull it tight until wrinkle then dyed it. 

4. Kain Tenun (Hand-Woven Fabric)

* Usually came from Samarinda, East Kalimantan
* Kain Tenun also came from Bali, Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara with different patterns or color preferences.