A video of a woman going by the name Idayu Oumor ironing a songket baju raya became popular on TikTok recently.
However, it appeared that the moment she ironed her songket shirt, it shrank. She also made a joke about those who are M-sized wanting to buy the shirt, saying they should get the XL size since it will shrink after being ironed.
She clarified in the comments section that she used a "steam iron" to iron the garment, which would not burn the cloth even if it was left on.
Additionally, she said that the inside of the shirt was quite rough and that the clothing was too small to be worn. Meanwhile, in the comment section, people shared their techniques on ironing the songket cloth.
Songket material can only be ironed using a regular iron set to the silk temperature, according to a lady who is paid to iron garments. Furthermore, some people usually line another piece of fabric over the songket to iron it.
In addition, several people mentioned that their tailors requested that the songket cloth be sewed a little bit larger or ironed before stitching to avoid any issues with it being too tight as it shrinks.
However, some people also see the bright side of this declining market. One woman said that because she didn't have time to send her huge songket garment to be "altered," she had it ironed at high temperatures.
Source: The Rakyat Post
