Peranakan woman sews her first pair of beaded shoes during pandemic

It took the MCO to get Tan started on her sewing project. Photo: Tan Mei Ling

Tan Mei Ling, 59, a seventh generation Peranakan from Melaka, has always wanted to sew the Nyonya beaded shoes synonymous with her culture. She had even bought all the materials from a shop in Melaka some time ago, but it wasn’t until the first movement control order in March last year that she started her sewing project.

“I’ve always wanted to do this but never got round to it until the first MCO last year, ” says Tan who lives in Petaling Jaya with her husband. The couple have two grown-up children: a 29-year-old daughter and a 27-year-old son.

“When the pandemic hit and the MCO was imposed, I thought – this is it! This is the right time to do it, ” she says.

Tan, who has acted in three local films Sepet, Talentime and Gubra, is part of the Peranakan Association.

“We often put on shows where we wear the full attire, including the kebaya and beaded shoes, ” she says.

“And I usually wear my mother’s beaded shoes. She has two pairs that her mother (my grandmother) made for her when she got married. The shoes must be over a hundred years old and antiques by now, ” she adds.

So Tan felt that it was time to make her own pair.

“I’ve been wearing my mother’s two shoes all these years for all our shows, and thought I should make my own pair, ” she says.

Tan's first pair of beaded Nyonya shoes which she made during the pandemic. Photo: Tan Mei Ling

“I started sewing the beaded shoes not just for myself to wear during the Peranakan shows, but also for my daughter, who lives in the United States, as she was planning to get married at the end of last year and was going to wear them at her wedding. But with the pandemic, the wedding has been postponed,” says Tan.

The shoes are ready however, and Tan has managed to wear them once – at her son’s birthday during the recovery MCO.

Tan has started working on her second pair of beaded shoes. Photo: Tan Mei Ling

It took Tan four months to complete her first pair and she is now working on her second pair.

There are different types of beaded shoes – those where the front is fully covered, and those which are half-covered, with the toes exposed. Tan is making the first type.

For now, she says that this is just a hobby and she has no plans to do it as a business even though she has been approached to do so before.

According to Tan who has always enjoyed sewing and handicraft work, making the beaded shoes is “simple”.

According to Tan, sewing the beaded shoes is like doing cross-stitch because the pattern is already there and the colours are indicated. Photo: Tan Mei Ling

“Basically, we just stitch every single bead to that bracket. It’s like doing cross-stitch. The pattern is already there and the colours are indicated, ” she says, adding that she adjusted the colours slightly when sewing her shoes.

“There are both big and small beads. But I’m using the small ones because they’re more see mun (refined)," she adds.

Tan says there is a shop in Melaka where she had her mother’s beaded shoes resoled before. But because of the MCO and not being able to cross state borders, Tan obtained the shoes with the heels from a shoemaker in Kuala Lumpur for her beadwork.

Tan shares that when she was younger, she used to do cross-stitch, but abandoned it when the children came along. So she’s glad that she’s now able to pick up sewing again during the pandemic.

Like many others, Tan who is a music teacher by profession, says that her livelihood has been impacted during the pandemic.

Before the pandemic, she taught her students either at their home or the music school. But during the pandemic, everything shifted online.

“While half of my students are willing to continue their lessons online, the other half aren’t, ” says Tan.

“Now that everything is online, music teachers have to be very tech savvy,” she says, adding that many use three gadgets to teach: a handphone to video call the student through WhatsApp, a tablet to see and read the student’s music score as they’re playing, and a laptop for group lessons where they can see all the students and their keyboards.

She laughs as she recalls having to use her 555 book to jot down all the steps for doing the online classes initially, but is now able to do everything in the blink of an eye.

Tan says that engaging in craftwork such as sewing her beaded shoes is a good way to occupy herself during her time at home, one day at a time.

“Engaging in craftwork such as this is a good way for people to spend time during the MCO ” she says. “When I’m doing this, I’m listening to music so it does help me relax. And it does help keep my mind off worrying about the pandemic,” she concludes.

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