Image credit: Pretty Mommy
|
I haven't exactly gotten far this week with party planning. The only thing I've managed to do is buy four metres of pink shweshwe fabric to use as table runners. Not very effective, I know. For those of you who've never heard of it, shweshwe is a heavy cotton fabric that comes in set prints that was originally from India, it was later brought to South Africa by German settlers.
In its raw form, the fabric was heavily starched in order to protect it from the damp as it travelled across the ocean in the holds of ships sailing between Europe and Africa, and it is still very stiff, but becomes softer over time with wear and washing, a bit like your favorite pair of jeans.
The Xhosa were the first to adopt the fabric from the settlers and it was the Xhosa women who gave it the name “Shweshwe,” imitating the swishing sound of their skirts as they walked.
I love walking around fabric stores, and all the possibilities they hold. My plan is to turn the pink shweshwe into a romper and a dress for Lilia next summer and also into some little drawstring bags for holding socks, toys, whatever. Four meters is sure going to go a long way!
I've added two new blogs on the right that are worth having a look at:
Pretty Mommy and Design Sponge. I've seen lots of image credits for Design Sponge, and it's a really inspiring blog, so take a look. I read about them in this article about the Alt Summit , which just sounds like the most exciting event to attend. Sometimes it really does feel like we live down here in deepest darkest Africa cut off from the exciting developments happening out there...
No comments:
Post a Comment