Embroidered memory!
I found a neat blouse with an embroidery in it. It reminded me of my youth so I bought it! Ah no… it doesn’t mean that the blouse makes me look young but its embroidery reminded me of my summer vacation with my aunt in the 70’s.
They lived in one of the depressed areas in Quezon City… their home was part of bigger two-storey house made of wood divided into several rooms. They were staying in the ground floor and were just renting it since it was near their work. The bathroom was common for all the tenants but it was just near them. But even if they stayed in that place their dwelling was actually nice… I’d say it was a real a home! It was fun doing house chores there and listening to the radio in the afternoon for drama… I don’t think there were soap operas yet on TV that time in the afternoon… so people were listening to the radio instead of watching TV. Anyway, many of the women there were sub-contracting embroidery work for blouses and shawls. It was part of their livelihood program and my cousin and I also joined the work force. The embroidery we did was similar to the one in the blouse I bought.
The flowers we crocheted were either 2 layered-petals or 1 layered-petals as in the blouse. I think the cost of one doubled-petal layered flower was 25 centavos each. All the designs involved flowers and leaves and stem. The leaves were satin-stitch and the stems were running-stitch.. for shawls we also placed tassels.
The cloth was katsa (what is that in English? Gingham?) and it already has a dyed-pattern of the design. We used crocheted threads for the flowers and the embroidery and all were in beige.. the same color. So my cousin and I would get our katsa and thread and we would either go to the University near their place and stay in the shade of this big tree and do our embroidery and crocheting while we talk… talk… and talk OR if we stayed in their home, then we would be listening to the dramas in the radio.
Those were really treasured moments between my cousin and I …and we became really close! We were also excited every time we would finish a blouse or a shawl and get payment for our labor. My father did not give me money so that it was pretty cool having my own money! I had some money saved after my vacation… but now I can’t really figure what I did with those money… but I can certainly recall the joy I experienced then…
It was a one really neat summer and I am certain that there will be a smile in my face every time I wear my new summer blouse and recall that summer!
They lived in one of the depressed areas in Quezon City… their home was part of bigger two-storey house made of wood divided into several rooms. They were staying in the ground floor and were just renting it since it was near their work. The bathroom was common for all the tenants but it was just near them. But even if they stayed in that place their dwelling was actually nice… I’d say it was a real a home! It was fun doing house chores there and listening to the radio in the afternoon for drama… I don’t think there were soap operas yet on TV that time in the afternoon… so people were listening to the radio instead of watching TV. Anyway, many of the women there were sub-contracting embroidery work for blouses and shawls. It was part of their livelihood program and my cousin and I also joined the work force. The embroidery we did was similar to the one in the blouse I bought.
The flowers we crocheted were either 2 layered-petals or 1 layered-petals as in the blouse. I think the cost of one doubled-petal layered flower was 25 centavos each. All the designs involved flowers and leaves and stem. The leaves were satin-stitch and the stems were running-stitch.. for shawls we also placed tassels.
The cloth was katsa (what is that in English? Gingham?) and it already has a dyed-pattern of the design. We used crocheted threads for the flowers and the embroidery and all were in beige.. the same color. So my cousin and I would get our katsa and thread and we would either go to the University near their place and stay in the shade of this big tree and do our embroidery and crocheting while we talk… talk… and talk OR if we stayed in their home, then we would be listening to the dramas in the radio.
Those were really treasured moments between my cousin and I …and we became really close! We were also excited every time we would finish a blouse or a shawl and get payment for our labor. My father did not give me money so that it was pretty cool having my own money! I had some money saved after my vacation… but now I can’t really figure what I did with those money… but I can certainly recall the joy I experienced then…
It was a one really neat summer and I am certain that there will be a smile in my face every time I wear my new summer blouse and recall that summer!
posted by elizabeth | 9:20 PM
1 Comments:
hi, elizabeth,
i have summer memories similar with this one, too. but we didnt crochet. the program we got involved in that time was embedding yarns in two sheets of cloth to make it appear embossed. it was fun though the earnings are small.
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