November 2009
Doña Tela
At the Tuesday open-air market in our town I had found a stand called Doña Tela (Madame Fabric) with higher quality fabrics and a better selection than the other stalls. On their bags, it said they had a shop in Sanlúcar. On our three-day vacation I wanted to find their shop—but how to do it? I asked at the Singer sales and repair shop. She motioned up the street— “Esta muy cercatita” (very close). We found it—called Costura (sewing), with a nice selection of luxury fabrics and cottons. I purchased several, including some flannel for quilt backing. Robert said, “Ask her,” so I inquired about pillow forms, too. She said she didn’t have them, but described another shop that had them, at the far end of the pedestrian street (al fondo, fondo, fondo). “Se llama Doña Tela.” Wow! Eureka!
We scurried there, and I found pillow forms (relleno de cojín) and batting (wata), and a clerk that had learned English by listening to American music and movies. Robert tried explaining to him that making pillows for friends is my hobby but there is no word in Spanish for “hobby”. So the store clerk put it into his Google translator. We had a good time there and bought a lot from him. He said his father went to the mercadillo (open-air market) each Tuesday. Perhaps he can be my future supplier.
We came home happy. Robert said, “You can thank me now.”