Crafting a native costume

In time for our university's 92nd birthday, the foreign students were invited to join the event last Saturday, to be on our traditional clothes and represent our respective countries and flags. This year, only three students were from Philippines so I decided to let my daughter join the fun, who by the way loves joining events. Then I decided to let her wear our cultural local costume. The problem was, I only got the top/blouse so I needed to come up with a skirt and the accessories, which were not so easy to acquire being on a foreign land.

I just needed to remember the essential colors for our native costumes: red, yellow, black and white. Scouting nearby DIY shops, I bought necessary materials for her headdress and accessories (necklaces, bracelets, anklets and earrings). I know I'm not good at crafting but I took such task as a challenge.

beads: red, yellow, black, white,
other colors are optional; small
anklet bells, clasps,  nylon.

Wire sticks (I can't find black
though), yarns, steel wires.

Here's how I made our local headdress:

I arranged the wire sticks and tied them together with a thin steel wire.

Then added some layers of steel wires at the base.

And further added more layers of thicker steel wires on the top part.

However, due to my busy schedules at school, I finished the headdress just a night or actually a dawn before the event. I slept like 3 AM to finish everything. Hurrying up for the 8 AM event the next day, I forgot to take a photo of the final product but here's how the headdress looked like, as worn by my daughter. 

The last-minute made headdress. Basically, I just tied the yarns around the steel wires. Then I stitched a black garter to attach the headdress to her head and embellished it with few beads. 

This was how my daughter looked like in the event. I modified her wrap-around skirt. It was actually mine bought by my husband from Costa Rica 6 years ago. I decorated it with sheer red handkerchiefs on each side, and it fit her so well (my, she's really growing up fast). Then I made her simple necklaces and anklets out of the beads I bought. Back home, necklaces and bracelets are far thicker and grander. A good Filipina friend Cyd, helped me with the earrings and bracelets when she came to visit us one afternoon. I finished her look with a pair of Habagat slippers.

My own version of Kaamulan Festival costume yay! I say, not bad, right? (except for few falling yarns lol, which I managed to fix later on). 

Behold the pretty Filipinas on our traditional outfits. Both Cyd and my 9-yr old daughter were wearing our provincial native costumes, usually worn on our local celebration known as "Kaamulan Festival".

Us (me, 2nd from right, I wore our national costume) and some friends.

With some more friends...

and with more... My apologies! Just realized we might had handled our flags the wrong way, should not touch the ground right?  If so, this is out of pure ignorance... We will be mindful the next time...

Us on our flags.. 

My daughter was kind of enjoying the attention she's getting lol.

I really enjoyed crafting my daughter's attire. After all, such event only happen once in a blue moon. It's also a good way to bond with her. My daughter was so ecstatic and grateful about it.

So, what do you think of her costume? Do you like it?