From Sisal to Fashion Apparel

Okay folks!  When you hear about sisal, naturally what comes to mind is agriculture, a commercial crop.  Perhaps your mind will wonder around industrial ropes, low cost, hardware .....well, anything BUT 'glamour'!

I was born and raised in the beautiful city of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania,  East of Africa.
As a little girl, I remember looking forward to holidays because it was travel time!  My parents took us on a vacation to Korogwe and Mheza, in Tanga region, my parent's birthplace, to visit our relatives.

 Tanga is located on the coastal strip of the Indian Ocean on the northeast of Tanzania.  It is beautiful!.

I remember starting the journey to Tanga from Dar in the family station wagon, at 6am and reaching Korogwe, a small town in Tanga by lunchtime.  The trip was such fun!
When approaching Korogwe, I was always fascinated to see huge plantations of sisal beautifully cultivated in endless rows. Dad always told us about the history of this cash crop and the use of sisal.

The plantation

Sisal cut and ready to go for processing

 In preparation for further process in the machine called  decorticatior.

Processed sisal hand to dry for exportation.

Visit this site for details.

http://www.lawnshotel.com/sisal.html 

   Little did I know that one day I would actually create something out of it.  If my Father was still alive today, I know he would have been amazed to see how sisal can actually be so versatile and produce something that is glamorous and wearable.

The Beauty

With my fascination with natural fibers and my love of creating, I dared myself to create something from this fiber.  I enjoy working with ropes, different yarns, and strings, so  I went to a hardware shop one day and deliberately searched for sisal rope.  I bought lots of it and decided to dye it in various colours.  Green off course to depict the original colour of the plant, as well as other variety of colours. I got creative and.........this is what I came up with.
Photographed by: Anna Prays

A lil je ne sais quoi !!!

The necless perhaps!

mmmh.... :)  Cape?

Simply Vogue It!!!

xx

The Eye of a Parrot Textile

Previously, I commented on designer Doro Olouwu's print, which I though it was similar to mine. I hope you can see the resemblance.

Fabric: Silk Jersey
Model: Jestina George
Photographer: Sonia Marabet Sanches



The Motif: by Mbezi Valentine
Media: Oil pastel

You are looking at a section of a parrots eye.
I must also, give credit to my son, a graphics student, who took his precious time to design this exotic motif for me.

The initial inspiration for this collection., is from the Japanese rope bondage. The print is only one section of the collection, more is on its way. I will for the moment, talk about the print and leave the rest for later as I am still trying to gather this whole project together. Upon building up this collection, I looked at various things and one of them was images on the traditional Japanese silk printing, where a parrot caught my eye and sailed on from there.

I love creating my own prints, by doing this; I believe it provides individuality in ones collection. I also find it necessary to complete my creations by designing accessories, which you will see very soon.

Fabric, digital printed, steamed and left to dry.

This is the fabric, digital printed, steamed and left to dry.

Fabric: Satin silk viscose - Decisions! Decisions!