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.
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