The African Fabrics
- rikocucinacucito
- Oct 31, 2016
- 2 min read
Hallo People!
What I love about what I do is to discover new things every time. When I discover a new material that I can use I go deeper in it trying to know as much as possible about it and to look for the bet quality product. Today I would like to share with you some knowledge I acquired about what are called "African Materials". Yes I'm speaking about all those beautiful fabric with bright colours and patterns. Indeed there are very many types of materials with different use and features.
So here I'm going to show you which are the ones I use the most and of course some creations I made with them. If in future I'll use even different types I'll talk about them too.
So what do I usually use? There are two types of fabrics all made with cotton: the kanga and the vitenge (singular kitenge).
The Kanga are traditional Kenyan fabrics from the Coast and have the characteristic of having a central pattern and then a frame that recalls that pattern. .Each piece of fabric has a sentence that come from the local tradition.There are million different colors, design and quality. Usually are used as wraps for the babies, aprons or to cover tables or cupboards. I love them because are giving me the taste of the tradition, the spirit of this joyful folk.
The Vitenge are wonderful materials, mostly waxed, with super bright and vibrant colors. They come mostly from the neighbouring countries like Congo, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda etc etc. They are used to make mostly clothes (dresses, shirts, skirts etc) but even to make bags, shoes etc. I love these fabric because of their colors and textures that are unique.
Well here are some projects I did with those fabrics. Of course I don't make clothes but I created cards, notebooks, necklaces and (lastly) I'm making Christmas ornaments...but this will be for another post!
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