Baby belly cover

Title
Baby belly cover
Year/Period
1930s
Region
Singapore
Object Type
Material
Dimension
Object size: 24.7 x 43.0 cm (Without strap),
Object size: 41.0 x 53.0 cm (With strap)
Accession No.
2024-00246
Credit Line
Gift of the late Mdm Koh Ai Ai

This piece of small-sized embroidered patchwork cloth was used as a ‘dudou’ (肚兜) to keep a child's stomach warm. Worn under a shirt or jacket, the dudou is wrapped around the stomach of a child and securely tied at the back. This dudou was handmade by the donor's grandmother, Chua Soh Heng, in the 1930s. Chua married at sixteen and had eight children. She would make patchwork cloth in advance which could be quickly transformed into clothing for her children, such as this dudou.