Lace camisole dress with jersey fabric.

Now we are back in Manila and I am yet to continue some crochet work, in particular, a camisole dress that goes under a bolero. The challenge is to come up with something that keeps cool during this summer season – perhaps not too difficult in Baclayon where summer months are cooler, but could be impossible in scorching Manila.

The straps of the camisole dress are pink crocheted lace with glass beads that my mom got from an “ukay-ukay” shop. I made the beige crocheted lace on the front of the camisole using the wide scallop pattern and at the back, I made a strip of 3-dc shells with picot based on the same wide scallop pattern, and enough rows of plain trellis stitch to match the width of the crocheted lace in front.

I am hoping that jersey fabric would be reasonable in hot climate. It is quite lovely fabric – this one is single knit, lightweight, stretches very well and is very cool to the touch. There is more of this fabric and I intend to use it more often with crochet.

In 1916 Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel outraged the fashion industry by using jersey at a time when it was strictly associated with underwear. ‘This designer made jersey what it is today – we hope she’s satisfied,’ snapped Vogue in 1917.

The finished beaded fringed bolero.

In the meantime, I have finished the crocheted bolero inspired by the Floret Stitch in several colors. I have also used a fringed beaded edging and have kept the sleeves short, loose and simple. Hopefully, this would go well with the lace camisole dress, as well as a top for any simple dress. Perhaps I will finish this ensemble of camisole and bolero before we return to Bohol late next month.

Anyway, while in Bohol, traveling from Tagbilaran to Carmen, I’ve seen a few crocheted items of interest: a vase of three crocheted roses on the desk of the cashier at the Registry of Deeds office in Tagbilaran, and a blue and white crocheted hat with brim (it was done in shell stitch and the brim shaped by a plastic hoop) worn by an old woman in a St. Jude bus on the way to Carmen.

Another item of interest is a three-dimensional doily at an office in Tagbilaran. I had my camera at the time and was able to take these photos, below. There was also another doily with undulating frilly edges. I asked someone in the office if he knew who made the doilies, but unfortunately, he didn’t know.

A three-dimensional doily in cotton thread.

A doily with frilled edges.

Anyway, it is nice that crochet has a home in Bohol. We return to Baclayon, Bohol next month, so it is still quite busy here preparing for that trip. My task also is to design and make the plans for a simple wood, bamboo and nipa house that we hope to start building before the end of this year. I didn’t bring any crochet hooks or threads during my stay there – at the very last minute, I decided not to do any crochet while away.

This place is perhaps to become our future home ...

As I hope to make Baclayon my future home, I wanted to get more involved in the place and not hide away in crocheting. It is also most likely that my crochet work will change once I move there and re-establish my crochet (and other creative work); we intend to stay in a barangay quite different from the city where I was born and raised. It is a challenge, a new life. I look forward to our return to Baclayon.