yesterday, we went to the town of Lumban (pronounced as "Lumbang," as in the "lumbang" tree) in the province of Laguna. we spent the entire day canvassing for prospective embroiderers (or bordadoras, as they would call it).
after hopping from one shop to another, you get to appreciate the kinds of workmanship they produce. some are really good in hand embroidery. this you can see in the callados. some machine embroidery were also very impressive that they can fool you to think they were made by hand too if you did not have the "eye" for it.
although we knew that my gown required extensive embroidery, especially on my train (as it won't be detachable), we were not quite prepared for their price quotations. Veluz estimated it kasi to be within eight to ten thousand pesos lang for the amount of work to be done.
we started out with those shops along the highway. lo and behold, these people gave us prices ranging from thirteen to sixteen thousand pesos! grabe! and so we decided to proceed to Veluz' recommendation, Mrs. Añonuevo (or so i thought!), who lives within the bayan. she might have a lower quote since she did not have a shop really to showcase their products. we got lost along the way because it turns out that the address that Veluz gave us belonged to someone else (or so i thought, again). we called Mrs. Añonuevo up and she guided us na lang towards her house.
we were expecting Mrs. Añonuevo to live in a small house as what Veluz was describing to me when i last saw her. looming up ahead though was a newly finished painted house and a car to add, parked in their garage. something wasn't right. and yet, we proceeded to have my gown quoted. she priced it at fifteen thousand pesos! that's for mixed machine embroidery and hand embroidery (for the callados). i was in shock, of course, because first of all, i didn't know what i was going to say to Joseph, as this was way beyond our budget. second, after all the shop-hopping, we felt that we were going home empty-handed and unaccomplished. so we told Mrs. A that we'd have a good think muna about this and we can just meet in manila if i do decide to have her do the embroidery. (we learned that Mrs. A is one of Tesoro's suppliers. that explains the big house.)
i was so disappointed that i texted Veluz and told her the price quotations, especially that of Mrs. A's. Veluz called me up and asked if i have been to Ate Beth's house na. Ate Beth who? she pointed out that Mrs. A and Ate Beth were two different persons! silly me!!! (this is so embarassing! =P) She told me to go to the address i gave her and she forwarded to me their contact number.
so we went back to #57 on Mabini Street and asked for an Ate Beth, a Kuya Ric, or an Ate Rosie. the old lady told us to go to the house near the bakery. when we got there, we discovered it was also numbered 57! ano ba yan?! (sana hinde na lang sila nagnumber ng bahay! =P) finally, we were at the right house!!!
we met Ate Beth and the rest of the gang, who lived in their very humble home. we learned that they do their own machine embroidery, which was just upstairs. we could hear the sewing machine humming the whole time we were there. they also revealed to us that their hand embroidery is made by some townspeople that they subcontract who reside pa sa may ilog or sa may paanan pa ng bundok. that explains why their work is very affordable. for the same amount of work (machine and hand embroidery), they priced it at eight thousand pesos. imagine, five to eight thousand less than what the shops quoted us!
since they already were subcons of Veluz, i just chose the design which most appealed to me, handed over my padron (or pattern) and piña silk, and paid a deposit (50%). should they have any concerns, they can easily coordinate na lang with Veluz. once it is finished they will just deliver it na lang directly to Veluz. i just told them to text me when the delivery date is so i can drop off the balance of what we owe them at Veluz' place and they can just pick it up there. that easy.
side kwento: they also mentioned some of Veluz' brides. special mention si Faye because they told me na sayang, di ko nakita yung gown niya. it was already finished na daw and was in the laundry na to be washed, ready to be delivered back to Veluz. kakatuwa naman! I also peeked into Ate Beth's notebook, which contained Veluz' orders. i told Ate Beth i was familiar with the names of these ladies. ;)
well, i'm glad that's done and over with. on to other stuff -- paperwork! argghh!!!
joseph's coming home in two days! the anticipation is killing me! :D
** special thanks to my mom and my stepdad for patiently accompanying me on this trip. :)
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