Our guild meeting this month was a fascinating talk by Adaku Parker of Dovetailed. We had 18 members listening and she told us about African Wax fabrics and how her business came to be. Pictured above is a peacock feather print from her collection, bought by a member, Janet, to make herself a skirt. Also pictured is the speedbird design, one of the most popular designs she said. First she told us a little about herself. She was a barrister until 2017 and was looking for a career change to fit in with her family. She had watched the end of an episode of The Sewing Bee and this sprung to mind. She knew little about sewing but immediately found herself some training and her new business was founded. Adaku told us a little about the history of these fabrics. You can read more about them in her new book and a book by Anne Grosfilley called African Wax Print Textiles . Here is a very short summary of her talk. African wax print fabrics originated in Indonesia in the 1800s. At that time Dutch East India (as it was known then) was making these fabrics. When Dutch merchants returned home to Holland they tried to reproduce the fabrics they had seen and liked. The idea was to make them in quantity and sell them back to the Indonesians. However it didn't work out quite like that! They made them with machines and the Indonesian people didn't like them as the process used to make them was not perfect in their eyes.
So how did they get to Africa? Legend has it that soldiers from the Gold Coast stationed in Indonesia at the time also liked the fabrics. They bought them and took them home to Africa as gifts for their womenfolk and so was born African wax prints. African people added their own traditional and ancient designs as well as adding contemporary ones. Nowadays 50% are made in China, 20% in Indonesia, 10% in Holland and the rest scattered in other countries. Adaku imports hers from Holland. The fabrics are cotton, and are still made in 6 metre lengths, which is the amount traditionally needed to make an African woman's outfit - 2m for the top, 2 for the skirt wrap, 1 for the tie and 1 for the head-dress - I think thats it. Adaku will cut the required amount for customers. She explained about the process of wax and dye to make the fabrics. It seemed to me to be like batik if you know what that is. The fabric has the pattern all the way through so it can be hard to tell which is the right side. The fabric is completely colour fast. Thats it folks, as they say. except don't miss our next talk on March 13th. It is........... John Parkinson talking about his business iinouiio. It is a business recycling fabrics to make yarn and I'm going to love that!
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Well here we are in 2021 and we still can’t meet in person! But don’t panic as we are still meeting on Zoom. Have you looked at our new programme for this year? We have already had our AGM and elected a new chair. Kate has retired after doing a great job for a number of years- sorry can’t remember how many, and Carolyn has stepped up to take joint chair with Mandy.
Our next meeting is on 13 February at 2.00pm with a talk on African wax print fabric at 2.15pm by Adaku Parker of Dovetailed London. Don’t miss it, I’m sure it will be interesting. Dont forget to pay your reduced subs for this year. It a bargain at £20. As I’m writing this it’s a beautiful sunny morning with snow on the ground. I’m not keen on going walking in the snow in case I slip and break something...but I did do my Chasamba class on Zoom this morning so I’m feeling pleased. Now I’m combing some Romney fleece with my Viking combs. It was some I had leftover from a fleece given to me by my farmer/teacher friend Caroline who lives in Upton Snodsbury. There was 1150g left in the bag. It was washed and I’m wondering how much actual tops that will yield. I’m guessing it will be around 400g which might be nearly enough to make a sweater for next Christmas! I will let you know soon when I’ve done it. I’ve seen a pattern and I’ve never had a Christmas jumper and it’s no good starting at Christmas is it?! It’s called Jingle on Ravelry and I have some green and red for the jingle bells that I got from The Shepherds Hut advent calendar which I treated myself to for Christmas. It’s in the photo above with some already spun... I could go rambling on about many other things but as it’s the first one I’ve written I don’t want to bore anyone! Written by Wendy, |
AuthorWendy Simpson, Archives
December 2021
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