Sarong Blog
Sarongs – Fashion, Function & Fun
Nov 12 2010
Thanksgiving Sarong Use #2 – Save Your Table from the Turkey!
Uncategorized - 1 year ago - admin
How do you protect your fine table linen from turkey juice splatters when you carve and serve on Thanksgiving? I have an idea for you! Use a sarong and an old towel to make an attractive, absorptive mat for catching turkey juice drips on the table.
Take a sarong or pareo in Autumn colors, perfect for Thanksgiving decorations, that looks pretty on your table. Fold it around an old, clean bath towel and place at the head of the table where the turkey will be carved. Place the platter on the table, on top of your sarong mat, folded so it leaves a few inches around the platter to catch any spills.
The juice from that gorgeous, juicy bird on Thanksgiving day will be absorbed by the sarong mat and save your fine table linen from irreparable damage. The best part is, the sarong is easy to launder and will likely look great after a wash, ready to be reused again and again, for other purposes in your home and then on the beach!
Nov 10 2010
Thanksgiving Sarong Use… Coordinating Mismatched Chairs!
home decor / uses for sarongs - 1 year ago - admin
How to use sarongs to cover mismatched chairs around your holiday table. I love Thanksgiving. As much as I like cooking, eating, and visiting with family and friends, my favorite part is setting the table. It is an occasion to bring out the nice china, find all the matching cloth napkins, make a cute little center piece with construction paper and pumpkins…
One challenge we always have in our home is chairs. We have 6 chairs around our table on a normal day, but what do you do when you have 8 or 10 people coming over? Then is it time to bring out the rolling desk chairs, the front hall chair, even that antique chair I painted in rainbow colors when I was 15. Sometimes I borrow folding chairs if I am really desperate…
Well, here is a nifty idea to coordinate all those mismatched chairs for a neat look.
Simply draping a sarong or pareo over a chair has a nice effect. You can use the fringe to tie it to the top and legs so it doesn’t slip. For a desk chair, you can tie the fringe under the arm to a pinched piece of fabric on each side to create a nicely draped but secure chair cover.
Then for the piece de la resistance, you can use a matching sarong as a table runner. Voila – a Thanksgiving table and chair set! You could give the sarongs to your guests as party favors but you’ll probably fall in love with them, so make sure to keep a few for yourself.
This year I am using this sarong, in orange, to cover my chairs.
Just another great use for a sarong!
Nov 1 2010
How to Decorate Your Rented Space
home decor / uses for sarongs - 1 year ago - admin
In every home, apartment and room I’ve ever rented, I’ve always fretted about putting nails in the walls to decorate my space. Sadly, getting my full deposit back has been privileged over personal style.
I discovered the joys of sarongs in this phase of my life. I could add color and flair to my space with push pins! Sarongs are light enough to stay put with the lightest of touches. I have even hung curtains by just tying the fringe to the existing venetian blinds mounting.
As the daughter of sarong importers, I’ve had a hard time choosing from all the gorgeous, hand painted sarongs. Needless to say, I have quite a collection by now. But they are inexpensive, easy to launder and quite unique. Of all the art I hang in my home, the handpainted sarongs always garner the most attention.
Here is my latest favorite decorative sarong.
Hand Painted Balinese Sarongs - For Your Home
Oct 28 2010
Bring Autumn Colors into Your Home
home decor / uses for sarongs - 1 year ago - admin
I love this time of year. The first rains bring that wonderful smell and the leaves are gold and brown, the gardens are still full of veggies to harvest. I even love when the rain makes the leaves all soggy like raisin bran left too long in the milk. What can I say, I’m an Autumn girl.
I am plotting to bring some autumn colors into my house without blowing my holiday budget before November even starts.
My goal is to find some sarongs to cover my tables and to make some good winter curtains because I can’t afford to replace our old windows with double paned units.
The table covers are easy – I’ve narrowed it down to these two sarongs.
The winter curtains are harder. I always like to reuse materials – saving money and loving the earth. I have several yards of lavender flannel that I bought a few years ago. But purple is not exactly an autumn or winter color… So, I will use it as a lining, sandwiched between two sarongs. I will just cut the flannel piece slightly smaller than the sarong and top-stitch it. Then I will fold over and sew one end to slip the curtain rod through. Easy peasy!
Hopefully this will bring autumn colors into my home while keeping out the crisp autumn air!
Oct 19 2010
How to make a lungi from a sarong
crafts / uses for sarongs - 1 year ago - admin
The traditional lungi, or Indian sarong, is a tube of fabric that one puts on like a skirt and knots and wraps it in such a way that drapes comfortably and stays on without elastic, clips, pins or buttons. They are most commonly worn by men, but women sport them too!
If you’ve ever worn a lungi around the house, you know how comfortable it is!
It is really easy to turn an extra long sarong into a lungi with only one seam and without cutting your fabric at all. Here’s how to make a lungi out of a sarong.
Start with a plus size sarong, or a piece of fabric measuring approximately 45″ by 76″. For plus size individuals increase the length to 80″ or more. If you are using a raw piece of fabric instead of a sarong, be sure to finish the edges so they don’t unravel in the wash.
Fold the sarong in half so the fringed ends meet and pin the ends together to keep them from shifting when you sew.
Sew it with a machine or by hand, tying knots or back-stitching at the beginning and end of the seam. Sew the seam about a half inch from the end of the fabric.
Snip off any loose threads. Voila, you are ready to wear your lungi!
Here are some good instructions on how to wear the lungi.
Oct 14 2010
Fun sarong craft projects for the one hour crafter
uses for sarongs - 1 year ago - admin
A sarong is a brilliant blank canvas. I was given a set of fabric markers and they sat in my sewing basket for ages. But whip out a white sarong and I’ve got myself a project that I can do in an hour or two, perfect for the weekend or evening crafter like me.
It got me thinking – what can I make with a sarong and a little paint? Here are a couple of ideas.
All projects begin with a white sarong or another solid color sarong. Fabric pens, paints and dyes are available in good craft stores. Happy crafting!
Great source for solid white and solid color sarongs
1. Make a flag for the front porch. Improve on those kitchy little flags people hang from their eves… It could feature a big Easter egg. Or a jack o lantern. How about an earth with a peace sign?
2. Make a Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary banner that can be hung year after year.
3. Stamp it up! Take apples or potatoes and carve designs into them. Then dip into the fabric paint and make a repeating design. You may just want to wear this one!
How to do Apple Printing by Craftbits.com
4. Pre-paint an art cloth for draping over the kitchen table when your little one gets out the finger paints or play dough. Their mess washes out and the design doesn’t. Even better – let them decorate it with the fabric paint first (supervise kids carefully with permanent pigments!)
5. Decorate a beautiful Christmas Tree skirt, with painted holly or snowflakes, maybe even a little glitter! This is way easier to wash than those plastic felt things… And more interesting.
6. Tie dye! For those with liquid dyes, rubber bands and love of a good mess, this is a fun project! Here are some inspiration for tie dyed sarongs.
Happy crafting!
Sep 29 2010
Using Sarongs for Furoshiki Cloth Gift Wrap
uses for sarongs - 1 year ago - admin
Sarongs make excellent gifts all year round. Some sarongs are, of course, meant to be worn. Hand painted sarongs are meant to be displayed. Thrown over a table in the corner, draped over a chair or hung on the wall, sarongs have many uses, as we’ve mentioned in previous posts.
But sarongs can make a unique and special gift – as wrapping! It is eco-conscious to avoid the paper and tape that will just end up in the landfill. The Japanese have been using fabric to wrap gifts for ages. It is called Furoshiki. One of our favorite magazines, Make, has an interesting article on the Japanese government guide to doing Furoshiki. And there are several great tutorials how to wrap Furoshiki by Cut-Out-and-Keep.
Furoshiki for books by cutoutandkeep.net
Furoshiki is traditionally done with a squarish cloth. Since a standard sarong is a rectangle of about 66″ by 46″ you can get several squares from the sarong with a few straight cuts, to wrap smaller presents. You can also use the techniques to wrap large presents using a whole full sarong or half sarong. Then the wrapping becomes part of the gift and they can enjoy using the sarong for years to come. You can also wrap a pile of gifts up in an extra-large sarong, for an elegant and eco-friendly presentation on Christmas morning. I like securing the bundle with a coconut sarong tie, which also adds flair to the gift for just a few dollars. And when summer comes you can use it to secure that sarong around your waist!
Sarongs are great raw material for Furoshiki cloth gift wrap, yet another amazing use for the sarong.
Sep 14 2010
Is it called a Sarong or a Pareo?
about sarongs and pareos / uses for sarongs - 1 year ago - admin
It depends on where you happen to be!
Sarong (pronounced “suh-wrong”) comes from the Malaysian language meaning “covering” and it used to describe any wrap with an Indonesian design. The wrapped garment used throughout Indonesia and Malaysia was first imported to the Western world along with spices and other products in the 16th century.
Tahitian Style Pareo
Pareo, pa-u, or pareu (often pronounced “puh-rey-oh) are Tahitian words for a wrap sarong. Pareos can feature hand drawn designs but are usually stamped with fern, leaf, flower or tattoo prints. The traditional Tahitian way to print is to carve the design on a piece of wood, dip it in ink and press it to the prepared fabric.
Sarongs and pareos are typical of light, breezy clothing comfortably worn in tropical climates where sun exposure and cloud bursts are frequent. Indeed, sarongs and pareos offer excellent sun protection, and if the wearer is caught in the rain or wears them in the water, they dry quickly hung in the breeze or even while worn!
Whatever you call them, the variety of rayon sarongs from Bali is amazing – every color of the rainbow and such interesting and varied patterns and motifs including the Tahitian styles of stamped pareos. Many people who buy one sarong or pareo find themselves collecting a new one (or five!) each season. Not only are they great at the beach as swim suit cover ups, but they also help keep a picnic out of the sand. They are so light that they can be easily tied to a few trees or tent poles to provide a shady refuge on a hot day.
It is no wonder that sarongs have been in demand since Westerners first “discovered” them from traders coming from ocean voyages four hundred years ago.
Sep 7 2010
Men’s Sarongs
Uncategorized / uses for sarongs - 1 year ago - admin
Sarongs for men are gaining in popularity. In many different cultures and throughout time, men have worn these simple wraps, known by many names: Sarongs in Indonesia, Lava lava in Polynesian cultures, Pareos in Tahiti, Kangas in Africa, Lungis in India, Toga in Greece!
In US culture, the stigma about men wearing skirts is slowly lifting (pun intended), given the right setting. A guy in a sarong, walking down Main Street will still raise a few eyebrows, but on the beach, at the river, at music festivals and spas, men strut comfortably in sarongs.
One way that men differentiate their style of sarong wearing from how to tie a sarong for a woman is to tie it in the men’s typical method. Here is how Balinese men wear sarongs.
Start by holding the sarong behind your back
1. Hold sarong horizontally behind body with more length on right side
2. Fold left side over to center of stomach
3. Bring right end around to cover center and hold with right hand
4. Fold excess back over hand to form a pleat
5. Secure by rolling waistband over 3 to 6 times
For narrower wrap and thicker pleat, repeat, folding over hand before rolling down waist band.
Sarong will have a fold of fabric in the front when you are finished
Interested in men’s sarongs for sale?
Jul 21 2010
“What’s Sarong?”
Uncategorized - 1 year ago - admin
“Nothing sarong, why do you ask?”
OK, dumb joke, but I got your attention right? Sarongs are getting a lot of well deserved attention of their own. It’s summer – the season of the sarong!
I live near a river, resort community and see people sporting sarongs every day: People in sarongs carrying their canoes out of shallow water, women and men wearing sarongs over their swimsuits to keep the sun (or critical glances away), mother’s carrying babies in a sarong tied on their backs. I love the makeshift sun shade tents billowing in the wind, extending from canoe paddles dug into the sand, and the sun baked picnickers dining on the clean surface of a sarong, thwarting ants and sand fleas who would love to taste the fare.
Sarongs have millions of uses and not all of them are related to the beach or pool. I have a batik sarong on my coffee table to hide the crayon scribbles my two year old lovingly donated to the varnish. I have this floral sarong to cover the squawking bird’s cage to quiet the offending chatter. I have a dragon sarong over our venetian blinds to darken the room in which my daughter sleeps to give the illusion of night down on long summer evenings. And this Buddha sarong lends a lovely yogic ambiance to my guest room/office/exercise room.
If I let myself, I could enjoy buying a new sarong every week – it is one of the hazards of working in a sarong import house! The next addition to my growing collection of versatile and stylish sarongs is the scalloped pattern sarong, which looks so cool in all the colors, I can’t decide which one to bring home! It is a popular choice in terms of sarongs for men, but I like it because I don’t wear a lot of pink and jewel tones so I like to keep my beach colors in tune with my out-and-about color scheme.
If you are interested in sarongs, please feel welcomed to visit our online store. Turtle Island Imports is a family owned and run business in Northern California. We have been bringin’ and slingin’ (otherwise known as importing and selling) sarongs since 1993.
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Sarongs are versatile and fun. Sarongs and pareos for everyone!
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