Textiles and Fabric dyeing in Africa

Textiles play important roles in the arts and basic lives of Africans. Clothing expresses the social status of the wearers in Africa. Brightly colored cloth, decorated with beautiful designs presented an impression of great affluence. Clothing also has spiritual importance depending on the religion and believes-for example, red symbolizes protection or war, Sango worshippers wear white and red etc.

African textiles are made by dyeing. Most are now made with synthetic dyes at industrial levels. However, clothes such as Adire are still made by local cloth makers.
Indigo dyes used traditionally were obtained from local plants such as Indigofera or Loncocarpus Cyanescans.  These dyes were made with dried balls of crushed leaves, ash, dried residue from old dye vats. Fabrics are dipped repeatedly in the fermented dye, exposed briefly to air re-immersed until desired color intensity and design is achieved. The dyed fabric is then repeatedly beaten with certain wood which presses the fabric and imparts a shiny glaze to it.

Today lots of synthetic dyes and imported fabrics have largely displaced the natural dyes as they are more colorfast, but the good news is that the arts still remains the same.

ADIRE

They are produce by a variety of resist dye technique. The name Adire translate “tie and dye” from the Yoruba language. Adire is made by various African ethnic groups which include Yoruba and Hausa people of Nigeria, Mandling of Mali, Tuareg Nomads of Sahara to the grassland kingdoms of Cameroon etc.

One of the techniques used involve the use of raffia to tie the clothes which could be folded in pleats, repeatedly tied in knots, stitched with the raffia or have sticks and stones fastened into the cloth before dyeing. The second technique is done by painting or stenciling with cassava starch before dyeing. The fascinating things about Adire patterns is that no 2 fabrics are exactly the same even when  the same techniques and dye colors have been used  and each different design has it’s own symbolic meaning or story. We sell Adires made into tunic style men’s tops, dashiki, suits for men, dresses, skirts and booboo(freestyle long ladies dress). Fabrics are also available for table cloths, wall decors and for those who love to sew.

FULANI  ATTIRE

Hand woven, hand decorated cloth made and worn by the Fulani people spread over countries in West Africa, Central Africa up to East Africa. Fulani are nomads and their traditional occupations were farming and cattle rearing. The fabrics are meticulously and loosely woven, beautifully hand decorated with bright colored wool, then made into 2 piece sets for men and women. As with all hand made products, no two decorations are the same.  These attires are beautiful for a nice summer day.
Aso-Oke

Aso-Oke is a hand loomed cloth, woven by the Yoruba people of southwest Nigeria. It’s woven in strips and sewn together to make men’s robes, hats, women’s wrappers, shawls, shoulder sach and scarves. They are also used as throws to accentuate home decors or to keep warm on those wintery nights. Aso-Oke is also worn by members of the Yoruba religion from America, Britain and Cuba.