African/Dutch wax print fabrics | How About Orange

April 29, 2014

African/Dutch wax print fabrics


While browsing Etsy for artwork, I got distracted scrolling through African wax print fabrics. The fabric I put on the parlor lamps was a wax print. These textiles have a fascinating history; read more here. These were some of my favorite prints:
Above: Left; right.


Left; right.


Left; right.

10 comments:

Grandma G said...

Soooo... you're wanting me to make you a dress out of one (or more) of these?

Mum

Jessica Jones said...

Nope. You're off the hook. :) I'm contemplating another lamp shade, though...

Unknown said...

I love these too. I lived in Congo for a few years and just moved back. I'm selling a few pieces from my collection here: http://www.ebay.com/usr/brynagriff

Jessica Jones said...

Your green bird print is great!

ladylyn said...

Wow! How wonderful! I love learning about stuff like this. Thanks for sharing!

ladylyn said...

Also, I adore those yellow trees above. Too bad it's six yards. What on earth would I do with that much of it?

lp said...

I was eyeing the bird print, too, but I finally bought some at a local store. I posted about it here: http://patternandbranch.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/show-and-tell/

I also just made a dress out of an African/Dutch wax print. Here's that one: http://patternandbranch.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/show-and-tell-again/

I've been noticing these prints a lot. I like the article you linked to. It really helps "place" these fabrics and their current impact on American fashion as well as African.

Jessica Jones said...

Your black and white bird print is gorgeous! Great job on the dress!

Anonymous said...

You should check out the African Fabric Shop www.africanfabric.co.uk for inspiration. They stock a wide range of West African wax prints (including the awesome option of fat quarters), and love the history of it so much they've even written a book "African Wax Print: a textile journey". Just wonderful. A lot of my wedding fabric came from them

Jessica Jones said...

Great! Thanks for the link.