Here's one of my secret joys: custom-made clothes by our neighborhood "mananahi" (this means seamstress, in case there are visitors from beyond the Philippines). Apart from the smug feeling that comes with knowing what you're wearing is unique rather than mass-produced, I sooo enjoy the thrill of hunting for the best fabrics at local fabric stores!
For designs, I pore over back issues of magazines (click here to read my post on that) particularly my favorites, InStyle and Lucky, to look for style I love -- then I tweak them a bit to make them all my own!
As for my beloved mananahi, she's been sewing for my family for maybe two decades! We just text her on her cell phone, she comes to pick up the fabric and the picture of the design I want, and and off she goes! No need to measure me because she already has my measurements. She keeps a sewing machine in her house, and that's where she sews. About a week later, she texts me, "Joyce, tapos na ang damit mo," and she comes to our house to drop it off.
The best part: my mananahi charges only P80-200 per piece for labor, depending on the style I want her to make! Once, I bought this really pretty printed jersey fabric at a mallwide sale for only P50 per yard at 65 width x 1.5 yards = P75... and my mananahi charged me only P100 to turn it into a wrapdress... result: a one-of-a-kind (or so I hope) wrapdress that costs only P175, but if you wear it with flair, people just may think it's DVF (or so I hope... hahaha)!
FABRIC STORES TO CHECK OUT:
Fabric Warehouse
Bloomingdales
Cotton Touch
And if you don't mind getting your shoes a little bit dirty, there's also Ylaya Street in Manila for fabrics at rock-botton prices!
HOW TO FIND YOUR OWN MANANAHI (if you don't have one yet): Ask around! Ask your mom, your titas, your friends. Someone's bound to know someone, and refer you to a good mananahi.
And when you find one, treat her well -- offer to pay for her transpo, make sure you give her merienda. This is the secret to building a long-lasting relationship with a mananahi who will create loads of Luxe for Less clothing for you throughout the years.
