26 posts tagged “shwe shwe”
On Thursday this week as I was power pacing through dusty streets Naledi in Soweto past chickens and children with Napoleon, Chairman of the Community Policing Forum, I thought about how interesting my new job is.
On Thursday I helped the Youth Desk of the Naledi Community Policing Forum with an initiative of theirs - to paint house numbers for shacks that have no numbers so that the police and emergency services can find them when they need help.
This was a project all of their own design and I just helped them approach sponsors and get the relevant players on board - and then came to help out with manpower on the actual day.
The first house number was for Constance, who also happened to be wearing a lovely shwe shwe dress. DOuble reason to haul out my camera.
Her dress had the same pattern as the Duro Dress that I made for myself a while ago.
Her dress is quite simple with white ribbon trim on the sleeves, pockets and hem. Constance told me her dress was made by a Zimbabwean women in the community who is too old now to make dresses anymore. Most women like Constance have one or two shwe shwe dresses that they wear for years and years as their primary item of clothing.
I will make sure that I get the photo printed for Constance and take it to her when I go through to Soweto this week.
Walking through temporary housing made of tin is not always the most pleasant thing, but I was so impressed with the Youth Desk and the CPF members that joined us, in the way they interacted with the people. It was also interesting for me to see what personal touches had been added to these dwellings to make them a bit more of a home.
Here, Just because it was such a positive day for me are two more photos.
This is quite a typical picture of the houses that needed house numbers, but this one had the exceptional fruit tree full of blossoms and bees in front of it.
The Police and the Youth Desk working together on more than one thing at a time. Natasha helps the policeman take a phone call while he finishes painting a number on house number 44.
The gorgeous shwe shwe sandals that I ordered from shweshwe.co.za have arrived and I am thrilled with them. The women at the post office who handed me the parcel saw the company name on the package and wanted to know what was inside. When I told her she insisted I open them right then and there and then she took them round to all the other counters to show the ladies there ( Luckily Brixton has a small post office, so that was only two other ladies who had to ooh and aah over the shoes before I could get them back).
As soon as the weather gets a bit warmer I am going to be stepping out in style in these fun shoes.
Thandi - one of the beautiful characters in this series is wearing a grey shwe shwe skirt. Thandi and Tet This lovely notebook for sale online from Parklife who also sell some other exquisite South African design products. Thanks to South of the Sahara for finding them first.One of my favourite local character creations from Mu and Me is now also wearing shwe shwe.
Yesterday I spent a very enriching and day with a room full of impressive people at a workshop facilitated by Dr Edward De Bono on an Action for a Safe South Africa. Two of the many impressive people in the room, Angel Jones and Barbara Holtman were also wearing shwe shwe skirts - both with a bit of shine on them. Barbara's skirt is made up of brown shwe shwe panels pieces with green inserts for an accent. I have seen this lovely skirt of Barbara's before and was immediately taken by the bead work.They are not so visible in the photo, but there is pretty shiny bead work in the broach shaped patterns in the middle of the skirt, adding a lovely sparkle to the skirt. The decorations on shwe shwe are normally braid and ric rac, and I loved the uniqueness of the beads. Angel's skirt is made of brown shwe shwe circular pattern. Painted over this are different sized circles in bronze and metallic shades which give the skirt some glimmer and shine Even though everyone was vying for both Barbara and Angel's attention I managed to get them to compare and share their shwe shwe with me at the end of a quick coffee break. Angel and Barbara are both looking down in this picture, as they explain the story of their skirts to each other. This is one of the reasons that I started asking people about their shwe shwe. Often clothes are just clothes, but shwe shwe garments always have a story behind them. Both skirts are from Stoned Cherry and if I was feeling a bit more glam I would have put myself in the next photo, in the lovely new brown dress I was wearing - also from Stoned Cherry.
I was quietly munching on some healthy lunch at Kuai in Rosebank this week and watching the world go by when I saw what looked like an awesome shwe shwe creation in the window of a shop across the path. I had to dig for my glasses in my bag so that I could see that far and saw that it was indeed a fabulous creation in the window of a shop called Sister Bucks.
I recently started a new job that has me working in Soweto one or two days a week. The perfect place to see some of the most loved shwe shwe outfits, but as yet have not had the courage to stop my car in the middle of Soweto and address the ladies wearing these. At the intersection where I turn off the main road to get to the police station I am working with, there is even a road side trader with a small gazebo selling traditional clothing, including some great shwe shwe.
I read this morning on the Joburg website that the Fashion Kapitol is almost complete.
This has been a long term project as part of the rejuvenation of the inner city, and I am very excited that it is near completion. I think I was last there two or three years ago when then the project was still getting the momentum it needed.
I was happy to read that Bongiwe Walaza has taken space there, as she has done some wonderful things with Shwe shwe, and will soon be making a trip down town to visit this new fashion hub.
In South Africa at the moment there is quite a bit of doom and gloom, but projects like this , that are so clearly invested in the future really brighten my day.
You can read up more about this exciting precinct here - Fashion Kapitol Almost Complete
The Wren - whose gorgeous shwe shwe bags I have mentioned before has made the lovliest little bird pouches made from remnant shwe shwe and other fabrics.
They are so lovely thought, that the moment she puts them up on her esty shop they fly away as fast as their wings can carry them to other peoples homes.
I have heard that there are more on the way, so I will keep my beady birds eye on The Wrens blog and the etsy page and see if I can make one of them mine.
(hopefully before then I can remember the number for my Internet Banking log in - a silly sequence of numbers I can type without thinking, but stopped to think while typeing it yesterday and now like the Wrens lovely birds, that number has flown away from my grasp. Even my sub conscious mind tried to capture it, as I dreamt about it several times last night. When I remember it I can transfer some funds to my credit card for happily well deserved shwe shwe bird purchases )
I have been chatting to Miss P who wants to make a bubble dress out of shwe shwe, an exciting idea.
She was telling me about Makoti, a great store in downtown Johannesburg that makes great shwe shwe outfits, and I went to have a look at their site. There are some of the most beautiful creations and traditional outfits well worth perusing on makotis.co.za . They have many different styles and traditional dresses. I loved this one with its one sleeve wrap around top.
If you have made a bubble skirt ever, or have any advice for Miss P on making one please let me know and we can make her dream dress come true.
I bought some great new shwe shwe at my favourite store Arthur Bales in Linden last week.
I love the spirals because they remind me of the spirograph I used to love playing with as a child. My nephew and niece recently got one too, and I got to relive some of the fun while showing them how to use it.
The stripes are quite unusual for a shwe shwe pattern, so I had to get them too.
I think I might cover the cushions of the morris chair on my front veranda with these two fabrics . I had originally thought I would use the fabric to make reusable gift bags, but when they started measuring it out I succumbed and asked for two more meters of each for possible cushion covers.
