Welcome to the African Fabric Shop
Magie Relph and Bob Irwin
Vintage & Collectable African Textiles
The textile treasures we couldn't resist on our travels
Textiles
From across Africa
Beads
Handmade recycled African beads
Genuine Bolga baskets
Quality baskets - fairly traded
Inspiration
Talks for textile groups
Quilt, bag and jewellery kits
Thank you all: £3,335 raised for Musa's clinic
You've done it again! Our annual Christmas online quilt sale raised a wopping £3,275 for the Sukuta Health Centre in The Gambia. More info.
Welcome to the African Fabric Shop
Magie Relph and Bob Irwin travel extensively all over Africa searching out fabulous textiles, beads and baskets.
Every time we unpack our bags, we add new temptations to the website. Enjoy!
We are co-organisers of eight World Textile Days around the UK in 2019.
Featured Items
NEW African prints - Woodin and Da Viva
Are we excited about our latest buy of African prints?
You bet we are!
All 100% cotton and 100% Ghanaian: made by Ghana Textile Producers - GTP - and Akosombo Textiles Ltd - ATL.
Go ahead...
Get browsing!
View and buy: African print fabrics
NEW African furnishing fabrics from Ghana
Last year we experimented with these superb furnishing weight fabrics from the Bogolan collection by Woodin.
Wow - were they ever popular!
In fact, Magie used some offcuts to re-upholster the six chairs around our dining table. Marvellous!
On our most recent Ghana junket we were delighted to find more terrific designs and more great colour combinations.
They're just that little bit heaveier - perfect for most furnishing applications.
View and buy: African furnishing fabrics
NEW African wax print fabrics from Ghana
We've just unpacked our shipment and we have to say, 'Wow!'
Our latest selection of genuine made-in-Ghana wax prints has everything you cherish in Africa's most dynamic fashion fabric:
- Bold and vibrant colour combinations
- Irresistible designs
- Excellent wax print quality - 100% cotton
All thanks to Perpetual - our favourite wax print vendor in Accra's Makola market.
View and buy: African wax print fabrics
Back from Côte d'Ivoire with NEW Korhogo cloths for Christmas
We travelled far for these unique, traditional handpainted cloths: through the cotton and cashew fields to the remote village of Fakaha in northern Côte d'Ivoire.
Was it worth that long and dusty journey? Absolutely!
View and buy: Korhogo Cloths
Read all about: Korhogo © Robert Irwin. Published by The Quilters' Guild in The Quilter, Issue 154, Spring 2018.
Can we bring the shop to you? Magie and Bob at World Textile Day in Frodsham, 2018We'd love to come to your group
Have you noticed we've cut down on the big shows? We've only got Festival of Quilts left. Here's why.
From our World Textile Days, we've discovered something important about running a small scale, fair trade business. We're not just selling fabrics, beads and baskets. We're communicating our experiences and our passion for what we do directly to you.
So instead of big shows, we'd rather bring our mobile shop to you. These types of events are perfect for what we're talking about:
- Guild regional and area days
- Quilt groups
- Embroiderers' Guilds
- Spinners, Weavers and Dyers Guilds
- Textile and costume groups
Invite Magie as a speaker and we'll bring the shop with us!
More info: Talks by Magie Relph