THREE STUDIES: ITAJIME SHIBORI ON LINEN

Since I decided to make scarves again (last ones I made were long ago...) I have been testing several kinds of fabric trying to find the ones that I like the most in terms of beauty, touch, and drape.

My studio partner  kindly offered me some pieces of linen to try. I cut them in square shapes so if the tests turned out nice she could use them for cushion covers. This are the three results, which I was quite happy with. I started with an orange color, which I overlaid with raspberry followed by brown. The fabrics have been also folded and clamped twice. 

Linen scarves will definitely be part of the new collection!

AMARIA IN SÃO PAULO

If you live in São Paulo and admires textile and wearable art it is worth getting to know in person Amaria's work. The company was idealized by designer Mayumi Ito. Mayumi works together with weavers, sewers, embroiders and artisans from Muzambinho, at southweast of Minas Gerais. Amaria's clothes exalt the importance of traditional craft at the same time that they keep original and contemporary aesthetics.

Their site shows all the collections: Amaria

Se você mora em São Paulo e é um(a) admirador(a) de arte têxtil não deixe de conhecer pessoalmente o trabalho da Amaria, companhia idealizada pela designer Mayumi Ito. Mayumi trabalha junto aos tecelões, costureiras, bordadeiras e artesãos de Muzambinho, do sudoeste de Minas Gerais. As roupas de Amaria exaltam a importância do artesanato tradicional ao mesmo tempo que mantêm uma estética original e contemporânea.

Veja o site com as coleções: Amaria
Se puder veja também ao vivo!

SHWE SHWE FABRICS - PART I

         Few weeks ago I did a post on wax print fabrics from Africa, which I brought back from my trip there in the beginning of the year. The other kind of fabric that impressed me (and of course I couldn't resist buying a whole bunch of them!) was the Shwe Shwe.

         Shwe shwe is nowadays the most typical South African fabric and it was introduced to the country by European settlers after a seaport was first established at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. The fabrics are still done traditionally by using the method that was used one hundred years ago: the fabric is fed through copper rollers which have patterns etched on the surface, allowing a weak acid solution to be fed into the fabric, bleaching out the distinctive white designs. This creates a beautiful pattern that cannot be artificially reproduced.

         All fabrics are 100% cotton and the designs are very detailed and intricate. Traditional shwe shwe fabrics are    printed in three colours: indigo blue, red and chocolate brown. They are typically stiff when new. This is because starch was historically used to preserve the fabric on long sea voyages from the UK to South Africa. After washing, the stiffness disappears, leaving a soft cotton feel.

        The term “shwe shwe” apparently established itself for being the swishing sound made by the long skirts used by South African woman when they walked.

Shwe shwe, shwe shwe.....

        Each pair of images below tries to give a sense of the proportion of the designs (quite small!), followed by a zoomed in photo to show the patterns intricate details.