Indigo Quilt: Part 3. Completed!

My Indigo Color quilt is done!  The South African Shweshwe fabrics featured in the quilt are made with indigo dyes. I added some Kona® cottons and one other dark blue fabric. 

Just as I did with the pincushion I made with these fabric, I flipped one of the pieces in this quilt to show a portion of the da Gama Three Cats (Trade Mark) logo which is printed on the back of this company's fabrics. The cats can be seen in the second from bottom row, the 3rd block from the left! 

Here's the back of the quilt, with my Labrador mix, Hazel, who came with me on the photo shoot!

Hazel with a view of the back of the Indigo Color Quilt

And a photo of the entire quilt. I love it! There is so much motion in the shweshwe fabrics! I designed the pattern I used for this quilt.

Indigo Color Quilt

If you interested in learning more about Shweshwe fabrics, click the link at the top of this post which will connect you to da Gama Textiles in South African which makes this fabric.  There is also information in my March 14, 2016 post.

Indigo Quilt: Part Two

The Indigo Quilt top, featuring 3 Cats shweshwe indigo fabrics, came together beautifully.  I didn't have enough shweshwe for the entire quilt so used a bit of dark indigo blue colored cotton fabric from Connecting Threads from my stash. The light center fabric the Kona® cotton solid "Snow' and the light "Bluebell" and medium blue "Denim"* are also Kona® cotton solids. (Note how those 2 colors of solid blue appear to be different depending on the fabric around them. It looks like there are more than 2 blues but it really is just 2 shades)!

When I drew this pattern, I had the center row of each block all facing east-west.  But when I put it up on the design wall, I found that turning the square blocks so that the center section runs north-south was much more interesting. Added bonus:  When assembling the quilt, I didn't have to match those center sections!

Just as I did with the pincushion in my previous post, I turned one small square block over to show the 3 Cats from the printed label!  It's fun and it identifies the fabrics as authentic Da Gama Textiles for anyone looking at this quilt in the future.

*Note:  I attempted to match the 2 blue Kona® fabrics I used with the Kona® color chart with actual swatches of fabric.  I think picked the correct names but am not a 100% sure.  I do wish Robert Kaufman Fabrics would print the name and/or number of the color on the selvage of their Kona® solid fabrics! It would so helpful!

Indigo Quilt: Part One

The indigo quilt that I discussed in my post on July 11 is cut out and ready to sew! 

The featured indigo fabrics are Shweshwe from South Africa.  Every bit of this fabric is precious--I only had 4 fat quarters and one half yard.  I needed to cut it carefully!

I ended up with a couple strips too narrow for this project and a few scraps.  It was too late in the day to start a big sewing project but not too late to use some of those scraps for a 4 inch square pincushion!

The fabric's logo is 3 cats, printed on the back of the fabric.  I found one cat's face on a scrap. I sewed it into the pincushion's top, wrong side out!  Can you see the kitten peaking through the pieces?

Shweshwe Fabric from South Africa

A Fiber-loving Friend recently went to South Africa for a wedding.  While there, she made a point of doing some sight-seeing in some local fabric shops.  She was looking for shweshwe.
(Click the link for the history of this fascinating fabric).  At the second store, she found some.  She brought back a selection and shared them with me--a thank-you for my part in sitting her cats. Lucky me!!

I'd never heard of shweshwe.  And you need to know a bit about it to love it! 

Right off the bolt the fabric is so stiff it can stand at attention! It is heavily starched and has a strong, though not unpleasant smell. Apparently starched fabric is a lot easier sew if you are using a foot-powered treadle sewing machine. (A great example of understanding the needs of your customer)!   Happily, once laundered, the fabric is soft as butter.  The red and black fabric on the left below is how the starched fabric looks coming from the manufacturer.   On the right is the fabric after it has been washed.

Shweshwe is know for indigo prints.  But they also produce a variety of other colors.  Click this link to Da Gama Textiles to see their color lines.  (If you click on the photos they will open up to show many more designs).

My friend brought me the two fabrics from the turquoise line shown above, the red and black fabric and the indigo on the far left in the top photo.  Amazing!!

Not brave enough to use them all in one project, I decided to see if I could find some additional prints.  I discovered that the Etsy shop, Yardwork, based in NY, carries some shweshwe fabrics. That's were I purchased the other indigo prints. (The owner sells them prewashed so theycome soft and ready to use which is really nice).  Another American Etsy shop, More Love Mama, also carries shweshwe fabrics.

One more thing:  there is also something wonderful on the back of these fabrics.  The manufacturer prints their trade mark on the reverse side. Da Gama Textile's trademark is "Three Cats".  Isn't it great?

3 cats!  That was also the exact number of cats I helped to cat-sit for my friend while she was away!  Perfect!!