Ivory Coast

We arrived in the village at night and I could already see the weaving looms in the very dark underneath the trees. I asked whether they grow their cotton and indigo but the cotton comes from Mali and the Indigo from Germany.
I woke up at 6 o'clock in the morning to the the rhythm of the bobbins send through the looms and the long threads of cotton span across the sand and the men and boys are busy weaving.

The Baoulé People in the center of Ivory Coast weave a very narrow fabric in stand in looms. The cotton yarns are dyed with indigo- the indigo/white pattern  is determined by the spacing of the rubber bands that keep parts of the yarn covered to stay white after the dip dye.

The length of one fabric is 18 m and it takes one day to finish.  After completion it is cut and zigzag- sewn into 2  separate pieces - called  pagnes. They are the size you can wrap around your waist like a sarong/skirt.
The pagnes are sold in a few roofed stalls and I  enjoyed taking a very long time to make my selection .

The first item featuring the Baoulé fabric will be available in the shop very soon!