Category Archives: AfricanThreads

Threads for Africa.

African Threads Posted on March 30, 2017 by

Yes, I did it! I packed all those threads into big zip-lock bags and squished them into that suitcase. They will be given to the 6 textile groups we’ll visit on my tour to South Africa in April. The threads … Continue reading →

Visiting the Winterveldt

African Threads Posted on April 9, 2016 by

  We are in South Africa and visiting the wonderful embroiderers of the Mapula Embroidery Group in the Winterveld . Mapula means Mother of Rain. We love visiting the Mapula ladies with our tour group. I’ve known these ladies for … Continue reading →

Textured Tuesdays

African Threads Posted on March 16, 2016 by

This stack of folded kuba raffia cloth exudes texture, colour and energy. Abstract designs are appliquéd on to a background fabic. The colours suggest the essence of Africa. I spotted these fabrics when we visited Kim Sacks Gallery in Johannesburg on our last tour to South Africa.

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Stitched into this place.

African Threads Posted on November 17, 2015 by

Today, when some in our world seem hungry to divide people violently along racial and religious lines, I find myself thinking about growing up in Apartheid South Africa. In Durban in the late 60’s, I was not supposed to go alone to the Indian Market, in the heart of the city. Here I found community and my world grew bigger.

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Judy’s Journal: I feel as if I know her

African Threads Posted on October 31, 2015 by

Judy Martin wrote a lovely piece about some embroideries I’d bought on my recent tour to South Africa. These highly expressive pieces were made by women in the Isipethu Sewing Collective in KwaZulu Natal. We visit this group each time we take our tour to South Africa.

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More fabric shopping in South Africa! Part 2

African Threads Posted on June 11, 2015 by

I’ll write more about the various adventures we had in South Africa including more in depth information about shwe-shwe fabric pictured above, which is the iconic fabric of South Africa. I want to tell you about the herd of elephants that surrounded our safari trucks, the leopard we saw and the Zulu baskets and beadwork!

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Fabric Shopping in South Africa.

African Threads Posted on June 10, 2015 by

When we visited Limpopo Province this past April, our tour group was thrilled to stop at an African trading store. Three generations of an Indian family had owned the store supplying fabric to the various groups in the area: the Shangaan, Tsonga and Venda.

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Visiting a Zulu village

African Threads Posted on May 30, 2015 by

In April I led an arts & culture tour to South Africa. Here I am, second from the right, sitting with our tour group while visiting a Zulu village near Eshowe, KwaZulu Natal. Behind us are traditional bee-hive huts.

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Embroidery Bearing Witness

African Threads Posted on September 4, 2014 by

On September 7th, a fascinating exhibition of South African embroideries will open at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles. It’s called, Bearing Witness: Embroidery as History in Post-Apartheid South Africa It will feature the work of two groups that I’ve been closely connected to over the past 10 years through my fair trade imports, African Threads and my cultural tours to South Africa.

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150 pairs of Granny Glasses

African Threads Posted on February 22, 2014 by

Thanks to the Lunenburg Rotary Club and the Tantallon Bay Grans for donating 150 pairs of reading glasses. This wonderful pile of glasses is headed to South Africa with me next week. The glasses will be given to women artisans in South Africa.

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Art of the Grandmothers

African Threads Posted on January 20, 2011 by

Bonnie Samuel asked me to write a guest blog about one of the stitchery groups that I buy textiles from in South Africa. I chose to talk about Isipethu – Zulu for “going to the fountain” – as this group makes the most fascinating collages in appliqué and embroidery.

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Mapula Cloth by Elizabeth Mogano

African Threads Posted on June 16, 2009 by

> Mapula Cloth by Elizabeth Mogan Originally uploaded by African Threads I’ve just returned from 6 weeks in South Africa. It was a truly rich and fascinating time. Veryan and I visited 9 women’s groups in various parts of S.Africa including … Continue reading →