The Dressmaker

(This picture is an entry of mine to a photo contest of Flash Philippines with the theme - Life with Metal 

https://www.facebook.com/FlashPhilippines/posts/1698678190389195

(They ask me to write something about the piece and here goes)

The dressmaker (Sastre)

Ardina Loro or Nanay Arding as she is fondly called in our town is a beloved mother, grandmother and Aunt. She happens to be a dressmaker. Many people know her in town because for years she has been doing that job. She makes made to order dresses, gowns, curtains and other home essentials and alterations. Ever since she is a young girl she has  been a seamstress or a dressmaker and up to now at the ripe age of  80 she is still doing it as a form of physical and mental exercise and little income generating scheme. With the help of her manual sewing machine  which she uses up to now, she has sent her 7 children to school who are all college graduates. She has worked as sewer and cutter for some local designers but mostly on her own. 

Right now there are a lot of fashion choices from off the rack, to online shopping and designer clothes but nothing like a hand made ,  bespoke, made to your own liking and fitted to your own measurement kind of clothes that a "Sastre" or a dressmaker can do.