Want new clothes? Have them made!
So what's a girl to do when she doesn't have the perfect outfit for her first Cambodian wedding? Have it made of course! Today saw quite the clothing adventure - from start to finish.
Cambodian weddings are typically anywhere from two to three days. Not a small, quiet affair. Upon hearing this and descriptions of what the Khmer women wear, yours truly became a little nervous about her own wardrobe. How many truly impressive outfits can one realistically cram into a backpack? I mentioned this to an expat friend from South Africa, Bronwyn, and she told me not to worry, I would simply have something made.
So we started at the Old Market and began the process of finding some silk. There were probably at least 2 dozen stalls to choose from, but thankfully Bronwyn already had a favorite, so we had a specific destination in mind. Once we arrived, we were faced with the choice of literally every color in the rainbow. After gauging the opinions of passing Westerners and Khmers alike, we choose our fabrics and were on to the next step - testing to see if the fabrics were in fact silk. As unlikely as it may seem, many of these stalls sell fabrics as silk that are actually nylon, which is really only a problem when you pay the silk price. Bronwyn taught us that silk burns differently than other fabrics. Nylon burns quickly and smells like plastic, silk burns slowly and smells like burning hair. Turns out we choose well, so we were happy to pay $4US per meter.
Next stop was the seamstress' house. Set back a little ways from town, we arrived at a typical Cambodian home. At the side of the house was the small workshop where our clothes would be made. We were measured several times and asked to draw pictures of what we wanted our skirts to look like. An artist I am not, so it will be interesting to see how the final product is interpreted. I'll keep you all posted when I go to pick them up on Wednesday...
On a completely different subject, here's something I never thought I would ever say: Bob Barker is right. It is very important to have you pets spade or neutered. Our household has spent the last few nights contending with a band of cats in heat. Or at least that’s what we think they are. Well we know they are cats, we just assume they are in heat because of the noises that they are making. Imagine a sound that begins with a simple cat meow and then begins to take on the characteristics of a baby crying, a police siren, and then slowly but surely turns towards a sound resembling a person being murdered with a blunt object. Man I hope they get it on soon so this will stop...
Cambodian weddings are typically anywhere from two to three days. Not a small, quiet affair. Upon hearing this and descriptions of what the Khmer women wear, yours truly became a little nervous about her own wardrobe. How many truly impressive outfits can one realistically cram into a backpack? I mentioned this to an expat friend from South Africa, Bronwyn, and she told me not to worry, I would simply have something made.
So we started at the Old Market and began the process of finding some silk. There were probably at least 2 dozen stalls to choose from, but thankfully Bronwyn already had a favorite, so we had a specific destination in mind. Once we arrived, we were faced with the choice of literally every color in the rainbow. After gauging the opinions of passing Westerners and Khmers alike, we choose our fabrics and were on to the next step - testing to see if the fabrics were in fact silk. As unlikely as it may seem, many of these stalls sell fabrics as silk that are actually nylon, which is really only a problem when you pay the silk price. Bronwyn taught us that silk burns differently than other fabrics. Nylon burns quickly and smells like plastic, silk burns slowly and smells like burning hair. Turns out we choose well, so we were happy to pay $4US per meter.
Next stop was the seamstress' house. Set back a little ways from town, we arrived at a typical Cambodian home. At the side of the house was the small workshop where our clothes would be made. We were measured several times and asked to draw pictures of what we wanted our skirts to look like. An artist I am not, so it will be interesting to see how the final product is interpreted. I'll keep you all posted when I go to pick them up on Wednesday...
On a completely different subject, here's something I never thought I would ever say: Bob Barker is right. It is very important to have you pets spade or neutered. Our household has spent the last few nights contending with a band of cats in heat. Or at least that’s what we think they are. Well we know they are cats, we just assume they are in heat because of the noises that they are making. Imagine a sound that begins with a simple cat meow and then begins to take on the characteristics of a baby crying, a police siren, and then slowly but surely turns towards a sound resembling a person being murdered with a blunt object. Man I hope they get it on soon so this will stop...
posted by Darcey at 6:14 PM
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