Archive 2020

£3,048 raised for Musa’s clinic : 4 Jan 2020

Amazing! YOU - our loyal customers and devoted fans of African fabrics - splashed out  very nicely on our annual online quilt sale to raise money for Sukuta Health Centre in The Gambia. Along with several substantial cash donations, the total raised was £3,048.

From the staff and volunteers at Sukuta Health Centre, ‘Thank you ALL for your heartfelt concern for our clinic and patients.’

Our next online quilt sale to support Sukuta Health Centre will be in the summer of 2021.

That gives our makers plenty of time to create some totally irresistible quilts that will sell like hotcakes.

'Gentle' workshops at The African Fabric Shop : 14 Jan 2020

• Join Jenny for her 'gentle' No Sew Lampshade workshop
• What we endure to bring your fabrics back from Africa
• NEW vintage Kente cloths on website
• Eeny, meeny, miny, moe... which basket can you not live without?
• More...

Fabric hunting in Africa : 17 Feb 2020

• Going 'on safari' to Stitched Up and Fleeced Studio in Sheffield
• Bob's talk - Fabric Hunting in Africa
• Magie's workshop - A Postcard from Africa
• Shop Open Day and Spring Sale - 21 Mar 2020 - online too!
• NEW San bushmen designs from South Africa
• NEW indigo from Musa
• NEW baskets and fans
• More...

Crossing Borders: our World Textile Days for 2020 : 11 Mar 2020

• All the venues across England, Scotland and Wales
• All the speakers
• All the details
• More...

How we're coping with COVID-19 : 18 Mar 2020

• World Textile Day Wales - rescheduled to 24 Oct 2020
• World Textile Day South East - cancelled
• Pausing to reflect - looking back at Ebola and our travels in Guinea in 2016
• More...

World Textile Day Wales goes virtual : 26 Mar 2020

• 10% discount online at our virtual World Textile Day Wales
• More...

Log Cabin + Shwe Shwe special : 7 Apr 2020

• NEW Courthouse Steps with Attitude Kit by Janice Gunner
• How to tell if it's genuine Shwe Shwe fabric from South Africa
• Virtual Log Cabin project - quilters respond to COVID-19
• Our friends in Africa are worried about us - what about them?
• More...

COVID-19 devastates Africa : 22 Apr 2020

• Pandemic devastates Africa: no markets, no travel, no money
• How are our suppliers and friends coping?
• NEW Maseru bracelet kit with Shwe Shwe fabrics
• Our online 10% off sale with discount code
• Virtual Quilt project goes viral
• COVID-19 appeal for our African suppliers and friends
• More...

The people behind the cloth + COVID-19 appeal : 7 May 2020

• Our batik makers Neneh Jallow in The Gambia and Esther Amate in Ghana
• Perpetual's African wax print emporium in Accra, Ghana
• Virtual Quilt project  tops 315 log cabin blocks
• COVID-19 appeal for our African suppliers and friends
• More...

The people behind the beads + COVID-19 appeal : 21 May 2020

• Our artisan bead makers in Ghana: the 'brass bead boys' in Kofofrom, Oklah Tetteh in Kofofidua and Amina Sango in Kumasi
• Watch excited 'thank you' video from the Bannor, Kwaku and the brass bead boys for your generous donations in our COVID-19 appeal
• Jenny, we miss you - how we're coping with lockdown
• Please give generously to our COVID-19 appeal for our African suppliers and friends
• More...

£2,450 for COVID relief in Africa + Virtual World Textile Day online sale : 10 Jun 2020

• Thank for all for donating £2,450 to help out during Africa's COVID lockdown - champion!
• Our June World Textile Days in Oxfordshire and Scotland are cancelled, of course - so we're going virtual with an online sale - 10% off with your exclusive promo code - only available to subscribers of our e-Newsletter. Sign up now
• NEW on website: some very special flat dish baskets from Bolgatanga
• Plus: NEW vintage textile fragment packs
• More...

Inspiration Special - ideas + fabric: 13 Jul 2020

• Dazzling batik lengths - perfect for dressmaking
• New inspirations on our website - decor, fashion quilts and crafts
• For the love of indigo
• Magie's WhatsApp shopping spree in Ghana
• Masks show off African fabrics
• African wax print stories on BBC
• More...

Janice Gunner limited edition selections: 25 Sep 2020

• NEW Janice Gunner limited editions - selected by WhatsApp
• NEW mud cloths from Mali
• World Textile Days - planned go-aheads for Bristol and Wales in October
• Follow our Instagram feed for perpetual inspiration
• More...

Torn, tattered and tactile: 12 Oct 2020

• NEW vintage textile fragment packs
• NEW limited edition hand-dyed embroidery threads
• NEW special collection batiks - perfect for dressmaking
• SUCCESS... we did it... our first COVID safe World Textile Day in Bristol - thank you all for coming
• World Textile Day Wales - planned to go ahead 24 Oct
• More...

African Home Decor: 28 Oct 2020

• NEW African Home Decor page on website - designed and created by Jenny Hall
• Shopping by WhatsApp in The Gambia - NEW Special Collection Batiks from Neneh and Wally just arrived
• 10% off all Bone Beads and Embellishments - help support artisan maker Kenedy Owiti in Nairobi
• Coming soon: our limited edition Christmas hampers
• Empower woman to reclaim Moçambican textiles - new local development initiative on Ilha de Moçambique
• More...

Christmas Ideas + Christmas Hampers: 16 Nov 2020

• NEW Christmas Ideas page
• Great Christmas Hampers - genuine Bolga baskets filled with fabrics, beads, threads and goodies
• Christmas Fat Quarter Bundles in red and green
• Limited Edition thread selections
• Re-live Bob's legendary journey from Kano to Lagos - Mad Dash
• More...

Almost Christmas updates: 15 Dec 2020

• New fabric recipes: handmade in Africa, handpicked by Magie and Jenny. Go to: Handmade and Handpicked
• Perfect for dressmaking - new Special Collection batik lengths
• Blaze of colour - new hand-dyed batiks from Esther Amate in Accra
• New laundry and decorative baskets just arrived from Baba Tree weavers in Bolgatanga, Ghana
• Restocked - Christmas Hampers - genuine Bolga baskets filled with fabrics, beads, threads and goodies
• Fragments of Time - new textile art by Liz Hewitt
• More...