After constructing these Filipino butterfly sleeves at a terno sewing and pattern drafting workshop taught by fashion designer Jillian Joy, I screen printed text I wrote about the grief of losing my first language onto retaso (scrap fabric) from Jillian’s studio.

I cut the retaso into many 1-inch strips that I loosely wove together by hand using a basic over-under technique. I then layered this weave behind the two terno prototypes in the glass frame. The transparency of the silk organza fabric allows visibility of the retaso weave. At the same time, the over-under handweaving technique prevents full comprehension of the text.

I used sewing pins to secure the fabric scrap weave onto a handmade paper offcut, which functioned as a backing board. From my pin cushion, I chose to use only those with dark red bulbs—these most resembled map pins. I placed each pin to mark significant but incomplete text, like “Baguio City / the noise / mountains” and “I come from / My roots are.”