Posted in African Batik Fabric, African Prints, African Quilts, Batik, Bazin, Fashion, Hand-Decorated Damask, Indigo, Industry, Kente Prints, Modern Tribal Cloth, Mudcloth, Traditional Fabrics, WAX on Nov 13th, 2012
Are you starting to wonder why my prices are so low and the inventory is so small? It’s all part of a projected revamping of African Fabric Sales in which we intend to sell out the factory made fabrics–the wax, the prints, the damask–and replace them with hand decorated and tribal fabrics. This was [...]
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Posted in African Batik Fabric, African Prints, African Quilts, Batik, Bazin, Book Reviews, Events, Fashion, Hand-Decorated Damask, Indigo, Industry, Kente Prints, Modern Tribal Cloth, Mudcloth, Other Links, Traditional Fabrics, WAX on Jan 9th, 2012
As we consider the wisdom of continuing with our store found at www.africanfabricsales.com we none the less start the new year with our store wide 20% discount sale. The web store was created to continue a business under THIS name that I was no longer pursuing in person at fairs, festivals, and quilting & sewing [...]
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If you are fascinated by the beauty and vigor of mudcloth, this book will inform you about traditional and contemporary examples of this fabric, known as Bogolon in the local language. Victoria Rovine did her PhD work in this field and and written a lively account of her experiences in Mali during the 16 [...]
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Posted in Book Reviews, Fashion, Industry, People on Feb 23rd, 2011
Subtitled “Power and the Politics of Dress” this collection of 11 articles by eminent Afro-centered anthropologists, was published by Indiana University Press in 4004. Editor Jean Allman, who contributed the forward and an essay, has brought together keenly considered information regarding topics as diverse as “Nationalism Without a Nation: Understanding the Dress of Somali Women [...]
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This letter arrived in today’s mailbox…… Hi, modern industrial african prints are using printing paints instead of dyes, (as it was the case in the olden days). I do not really think that your prints have any element of resist dyeing at this stage of industrial development and the wax resist effects are only mimicked [...]
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Posted in Book Reviews, Fashion, Industry, People on Nov 22nd, 2010
The previous post about African Fashion was prompted by 2 related occurrences: the frequency with which I hear from readers deploring the paucity of use of African Fabrics in the Fashion World as seen here in the US and the re-reading of a book called SALAULA by Karen Tranberg Hansen, published by the Anthropology/African Studies [...]
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A reader recently sent me the following letter: ….”I am just curious about this whole issue of colours running when we wash most African fabric. Is there anything in their manufacturing/dyeing process that they can change so that the colour does not run? Or is there some treatment that could be given to this cloth [...]
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Posted in African Prints, Industry, WAX on Apr 18th, 2009
An interesting article in the Taipei Times… http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2009/04/13/2003440913 Vlisco does make an outstanding fabric. It’s a bit pricier than some of the others, but as they said in the article, it lasts 15 years and is colorfast. All that said, I did find it interesting that Vlisco has 500 designers and not one of them [...]
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