{"id":5398,"date":"2016-09-04T04:00:26","date_gmt":"2016-09-04T11:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/?p=5398"},"modified":"2016-09-04T09:57:42","modified_gmt":"2016-09-04T16:57:42","slug":"the-days-of-going-to-a-dressmaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/philippines\/the-days-of-going-to-a-dressmaker\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Days of the Dressmakers."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"dressmaker,<\/a><\/p>\n

When you move halfway around the world, all the basics of everyday life change. The moment I stepped off the plane in Manila, the first, most obvious difference hit me in the face\u2014a blast of heat unlike any I\u2019d ever felt. No more cool, drizzly Seattle days for me. I was in the tropics now.<\/p>\n

We were going to need new clothes. Almost everything we\u2019d worn back home was going to be useless in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

My husband was fine. His new job was in an air-conditioned office. But the girls and I needed something cool to wear, fast.<\/p>\n

It was 1971. In a few years, the Makati Commercial Center across the street from our apartment would have department stores and fancy boutiques. In the meantime, it was a shopping desert, especially for big foreign women. (At 5\u20194\u201d, I was considered big.) There were dressmakers, though, plenty of dressmakers. Every woman I met had one to recommend.<\/p>\n

\"seamstress,<\/a>I had experienced working with dressmakers, I thought. When I was growing up, my mom made most of my dresses …<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"seamstress,<\/a>… and costumes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My grandmother was also a talented seamstress. She made this little rabbit fur coat for me. According to my sister, she tanned the hide too.<\/p>\n

\"rabbit<\/a><\/p>\n

I even did a little sewing myself. (Two years of cooking and sewing in Home Economics classes was a graduation requirement in those days.)<\/p>\n

So I was ready for the dressmaker. I even brought a stack of patterns from the States\u2014Butterick, McCalls, Simplicity. I showed one to the dressmaker, and she just shook her head. She didn\u2019t need a pattern. A simple sketch or description would do.<\/p>\n

In one of my earliest letters home to my family, I described a fitting I had with the dressmaker. \u201cShe cuts all the dresses with a high round neck,\u201d I wrote. \u201cThen she asks me where I want the neckline, and she just cuts it on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what did she charge for making that dress? According to that same letter, $2.40. Or, in inflation adjusted dollars, $14.<\/p>\n

\"dressmaker,<\/a><\/p>\n

It was fun designing my dresses, even more fun designing dresses for our daughters.<\/p>\n

\"dressmaker,<\/a><\/p>\n

When my husband returned from his business trips, he often had fabric in his suitcase. Batik from Indonesia was perfect for this warm-weather dress.<\/p>\n

\"dressmaker,<\/a>Matching Christmas dresses for the girls.<\/p>\n

\"dressmaker,<\/a><\/p>\n

The Year End Party sponsored by my husband’s employer, the Asian Development Bank, was a fancy affair. In this photo, Eugene is wearing a barong Tagalog, the traditional formal wear for men in the Philippines. My dress is made of Chinese silk that Eugene bought in Hong Kong. I don’t have it anymore, but as I remember, it was a kind of pinky peach color.<\/p>\n

Those “days of the dressmaker” are long gone. Now I buy my clothes at the mall or at a little store in Edmonds called Sound Styles.<\/a><\/p>\n

Where do you get your clothes? Do you sew? What about your mom and grandma? Have you ever had clothes made by a professional dressmaker?<\/p>\n

This is my fourth post in the series inspired by the letters my mom saved.<\/p>\n

\"my<\/a>See also: The Letters My Mom Saved<\/a>, “Everyone” Has a Maid (or Two or Three)<\/a>, and Two Maids? Really?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you move halfway around the world, all the basics of everyday life change. The moment I stepped off the plane in Manila, the first, most obvious difference hit me in the face\u2014a blast of heat unlike any I\u2019d ever felt. No more cool, drizzly Seattle days for me. I was in the tropics now. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[529,379,673,1340,148],"tags":[1337,1339,1338,1336,1335,1332,1334,1331,1333],"class_list":["post-5398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-batik","category-clothing","category-creativity","category-expatriate-life","category-philippines","tag-batik-fabric","tag-childrens-dresses","tag-chinese-silk","tag-designing-dresses","tag-dress-patterns","tag-having-clothes-made-by-a-dressmaker","tag-home-edonomics-classes","tag-moving-abroad","tag-sewing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Kn1e-1p4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4571,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/art\/sketching-baguio-an-artists-favorite-holiday\/","url_meta":{"origin":5398,"position":0},"title":"Sketching Baguio, an Artist’s Favorite Holiday","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"January 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"For an artist, a sketching trip is the best kind of vacation. And for an artist living in the Philippines, nothing beats Baguio for its breathtaking mountain scenery and cool weather. In 1979, I was spending most of my spare time painting. 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Before we moved to the Philippines, I was used to looking straight across at most women and up a bit at most men. In the Philippines, where the average woman\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo by James Emery","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Measuring-height-by-James-Emery.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2540,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/art\/batik-saving-and-resisting-color\/","url_meta":{"origin":5398,"position":2},"title":"Batik: Saving and Resisting Color","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"November 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Thinking in reverse. Years ago, when I did Chinese brush painting, the process was straight forward. I applied ink and color directly to rice paper. Anything I didn\u2019t touch just stayed white. Then I took up batik painting, and I had to start thinking in reverse. Batik is a resist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"batik on silk by Nicki Chen","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/IMG_0516-1024x682.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/IMG_0516-1024x682.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/IMG_0516-1024x682.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5365,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/philippines\/two-maids-really\/","url_meta":{"origin":5398,"position":3},"title":"Two Maids? 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And I send red envelopes stuffed with dollars to my grandchildren. 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