We spend a lot of time on Sewing with Nancy talking about sewing techniques or tips often bypassing the history behind the fabric. Indigo fabrics and dyes have a rich history and continue to be part of many cultures. In South Africa, this fabric is known as shweshwe. Elizabeth Schell with Marula Imports is originally from South Africa. She will inform us about this historic fabric. Elizabeth joins us via Skype. Elizabeth, how are you today? Hi, Nancy, I'm very well. Thank you so much for having me today. I'm very excited to tell you and your viewers about the fabrics that I import from South Africa known as shweshwe. Shweshwe fabrics, I'm going to show our viewers a little bit about what shweshwe prints look like. I mentioned, you can see some indigos, some reds browns, blues, purples and oranges. They have a unique look. Give us a little bit about what shweshwe fabric is. Nancy, shweshwe is 100% cotton fabric. It's available in a wide variety of different prints and beautiful, vibrant colors. Indigo is probably the most popular color and by far the best selling, also. Shweshwe is manufactured in South Africa by a company called Da Gama Textiles.
Nancy
When I'm handling this the first thing I notice is that it's very stiff.
Elizabeth
Yes, the fabric comes heavily starched. The reason for this is that the production process has remained much the same since the 19th century. Initially, the fabrics were starched to preserve them during the long shipping voyages across the ocean. Today, we identify authentic shweshwe by the starchy feel and also by the backstamps on the back of the fabric. The starch does wash out so after washing, the fabric becomes beautifully soft. It's really wonderful to work with.
Nancy
Here's a piece that I washed and it really is very pliable. Really, the color, you can see when I washed it the water was kind of starchy. You mentioned the identifying features on the back. This is what I find fascinating. Why don't you tell us more about this, Elizabeth? It says "Three Cats" on the back of my fabric.
Elizabeth
Yes, the shweshwe trademarks are authenticated by the backstamps on the back of the fabric. There are four different ranges that you'd want to look for. Three Cats is one of them. There's Three Leopards. There's a Toto Six Star. And more recently, the new Coral Tree range is called Coral Tree Quilting. Users are very skilled at identifying authentic shweshwe by touch, by smell, by taste and also identifying the appropriate backstamp. This is just to make sure that they're buying an authentic shweshwe and not a reproduction or fake cloth. You know, it's not as wide as the fabrics we're accustomed to working with maybe like a cotton fabric. It's not 45 inches wide, it's 36 inches wide. That has to do with the production. Give us a little hint how shweshwe is produced. Shweshwe is a discharge printed cotton fabric. What this means is that the cotton is dyed using a synthetic dye. Then it is passed underneath copper rollers which have intricate patterns etched onto the surface. A weak acid solution seeps through the copper rollers onto the fabric and this results in the beautiful prints that you see. The rollers are only 36 inches wide which explains to us why shweshwe is only 36 inches wide.
Nancy
Those rollers are so beautiful. Just those placed next to each other they really show the beauty that has been transferred to the fabric. Shweshwe obviously means something and has a terminology. Give us a little history of that term. There are two popular explanations for where the word shweshwe derived it's meaning from. The first is that shweshwe derived its meaning after French missionaries presented the King of Basotho whose name was King Moshoeshoe, with the gift of indigo or printed fabric in the 1840s. This established a cloth preference amongst the people which still prevails today. The second explanation is that the word shweshwe comes from the sound that the fabric makes when the woman wearing the clothing their skirts make a swishing sound, hence the name shweshwe. Personally, I like the second explanation the best. Yes, I like that explanation, too. The colors are beautiful. In our country, in the United States we could use this for traditional African costuming or you sent me this really attractive quilt.
Elizabeth
Yes, shweshwe can really be used for anything that you would normally use 100% cotton for. It is 100% cotton fabric so you can mix it in with other cottons, too. You don't have to make your project exclusively using shweshwe. You can be creative and mix it in with other cotton fabrics too. You just need to keep in mind that shweshwe needs to be thoroughly washed to take care of any bleeding and shrinkage ahead of time. I do have specific washing instructions that people can follow. Okay, I like the cultural part of it. I think that has some of the great history because it's been manufactured for many years, correct? That is correct. It's been manufactured since the 19th century. So, a long time. Thank you for joining us, Elizabeth and telling us about shweshwe fabrics and for thinking of some projects for us to work with. This is really an interesting thing to incorporate. I appreciate your help. Thank you for joining us. Thank you, Nancy, I appreciate the opportunity. For more information on shweshwe fabric
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nancyzieman.com where you'll find everything related to Sewing with Nancy. The current 52 shows are available for you to watch online. All Nancy's Corner guests and topics are listed. You'll find more sewing and quilting information when you read my blog! Thanks to Eileen Roche for being with us for our first program of "Designer Handbags." We'll be back next time for its follow-up program. Bye for now.
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