Lumban Embroidery

Lumban has embroidered for generations, and what it produces is the formal shirt that Filipino men wear to weddings, inaugurations and state occasions: the barong Tagalog, in sheer piña fibre from pineapple leaves or the cheaper jusi, worked by hand with the openwork technique called calado, where threads are drawn from the weave and the gaps filled with stitching, and with burda, raised surface embroidery. The work is done by women in home workshops across the town, a single formal barong taking weeks, and the pieces are finished for shops in Lumban and for order from across the country. Some workshops accept visitors and demonstrate the drawn-thread work, which is worth seeing simply for the patience it requires. The town sits on the lakeshore near the mouth of the Pagsanjan river, and is usually combined with Pagsanjan, Paete and the other Laguna lakeshore towns on the same road.

What you actually see

• The calado work - drawn-thread openwork on sheer cloth.
• The burda embroidery - raised surface stitching in progress.
• The piña and jusi fabric - pineapple fibre and its substitutes.
• The home workshops - women working to order across the town.

When to go

November to May for dry travel. Weekday working hours to see embroidery in progress; the Bangkero and town festivals bring crowds in March.

Honest expectations

These are homes and small workshops - visits depend on the family, and buying is the polite outcome of a demonstration. Genuine piña is expensive; cheaper items are jusi or blends. Ask what you are buying.

Nearby

Pagsanjan and its gorge trip are minutes away; Paete's carving workshops are up the lakeshore.