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I started down the road
to patchwork while I was on the road - literally, travelling across Africa by truck.
In this talk, I'll take you "wandering" through some
of Africa's most colourful markets to "buy" African fabrics to use in your quilts.
I'll show you some of the different fabrics and textiles that I
discovered on my travels, and tell you about their history and how they are made.
I'll tell the stories behind English and Dutch wax prints and 'Manchester Blue' and how
they got to Africa. I'll show you some of my vast array of wax prints from across Africa,
as well as other cotton cloths that could be used in patchwork and quilting.
Some of it's even been made into quilts - which I'll bring along to show you. |
My Road To Patchwork:
Via the fabric markets of Africa |
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A lot of African clothing takes the form of a simple wrap around. Given the colourful fabrics
involved, the effect is an expression of pure African joie de vivre.
When African costume goes beyond the wrap around, it takes on a new dimension – fabulous!
And the bigger the occasion, the more important it is to show off. Large and bulky clothing,
embellished with lots of serious embroidery can only say one thing about the wearer:. "I’m
important."
Grand, flowing boubous and enormous trousers are just a couple of the items from my collection
that I’ll bring along to show and discuss. To keep things in perspective, I’ll
also have a some items of not so grand proportion. |
Bob The Saturday Boy
models his new boubou
with Joe, his Accra tailor |
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| Many of my quilts have been
influenced by the traditional textiles of West Africa - where there's an incredible variety
of designs and techniques. The Ashanti people of Ghana
are famous for two distinctive cloths - beautifully woven Kente and hand-printed Adinkra.
We'll discuss how these and other traditional cloths are produced
and look at the background and meaning of their designs.
Discover a world of wonderful, inspirational design ideas from
Africa. I'll show, in some of my quilts, how these ideas work in patchwork and quilting. |
Displaying an old
Kente cloth during a
talk about African textiles
at Matlock |
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With this talk, you'll discover why Indigo truly
is the King of Colours - beautiful, exciting and inspiring.
I'll cover a little bit of the history of this fascinating dye and introduce some of the
patterning techniques used around the world.
Like all of my talks - this one's "hands-on". You may get a bit of Indigo rub-off
from handling the fabrics in my Indigo collection. All part of the fun! |
An inspiring Indigo cloth:
Kano, Nigeria |
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This age-old process of stamping fabrics with melted
wax to create a resist before hand-dyeing in natural kola nut and Indigo looks simple -
until you try it yourself.
Which is just what I've done with my friend Musa Jaiteh, who lives and works near Serekunda
in The Gambia.
Every time I visit Musa, I learn a little bit more about his art and life in The Gambia
- a very rewarding experience and one of the reasons I am continually drawn back to The
Gambia and Musa's fabrics!
You can compare Musa's expert work with my own - and you may be inspired to melt some candles
of your own. |
Musa displays some of his latest creations |
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2007
£75 plus travel expenses (.35p per mile and accommodation if required).
2008
£80 plus travel expenses (.35p per mile and accommodation
if required).
Cancellation Policy
All bookings are subject to a £50 charge if cancelled less than 25 days prior to the
arranged date. |
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