Friday 30 March 2012

If I'm shwe shwe, what does that make you?

So  I've been a a bit incommunicado lately.  Combine post-travel disorganization with work acceleration with crazy sickness, and things on the home front came to a standstill.  I had a nice mod-ish shift dress cut and marked for the Sew Weekly Mad Men challenge, when I was floored by 10 days of fever, vomiting and pain.  After about a week of that (plus one call to my boss, a parasitologist), my slow brain started to put the pieces together and think it could be malaria.  Luckily two blood tests by my labmate and 4 hours at Trop. Med. ruled that out.  Until I get the results of my blood tests back,  the diagnosis is  probably just a nasty virus combined with a severe case of motherhood. Whew.



During my fevered afternoons on the sofa, I caught up on a lot of blog reading and I started to think about how I associate certain people with certain fabrics.  I know I talk about shwe shwe a lot (and I'm in the process of sewing something from a piece of double-sided shwe shwe I've been hoarding for more than a year), so that's me.  What about you?

When I think of wool, I think of Debi.  Hell, look at her photo from today:  wool trousers!
http://fashionsfromthepast.blogspot.ca/
(I have a almost feral itchiness that comes over me if wool even comes within a few millimetres of my skin, so I avoid it at all costs, but Debi and her gorgeous vintage creations have convinced me that nothing can compare to wool for fall/winter wear.  I have a deep purple piece of Italian gabardine from the thrift store that I may just have the courage to use by the time autumn rolls around....if I can find some purple lining.)   

Carolyn is linen.
http://handmadebycarolyn.blogspot.ca/
I can't imagine her posting a photo dressed in cheap synthetic!  Every enviable sun drenched beach or eucalyptus forest photoshoot she posts features her cool creations.  Like a breath of fresh air when we're knee deep in snow...

Oona is prints, and the louder the better.
http://oonaballoona.blogspot.ca
  ...although Mokosha can give her a run for her money sometimes....
http://mokosha.blogspot.ca

Tanis-Isis is denim.
http://tanitisis.wordpress.com/
 She can whip up a pair of jeans for herself, her kids, even her husband in the time it takes me to cut a pattern  ;)  It's enough to make me want to buy some gold thread and a straight-stitcher!


Peter is anything @ $2/metre.
http://malepatternboldness.blogspot.com
How does he do it?!  I thought NYC was supposed to be one of the most expensive cities in the world, but somehow he manages to find all the deals....

So there are some random, fever-induced thoughts of mine about fabric personalities.  Agree....disagree.....feel like you are the rightful queen of $2/m steals? Chime right in!












Monday 19 March 2012

A bit of background about shwe shwe

There's a great article in the March edition of Indwe, the South African Airlines inflight publication. about shweshwe fabrics.  You can get access to the past two years of issues by registering with an email address, but I thought I'd post some screenshots here for all of us to enjoy:












OK, so now I don't feel so strange about smelling and tasting the fabric, knowing that the experts do it!  ;)  Hope you enjoyed the tour. 




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