Shweshwe Dress - Textile Art - A4 Black

An artwork for framing which showcases the iconic Shweshwe fabric introduced by German settlers in Natal and the Eastern Cape in the early 1800’s and soon adopted by the local Xhosa inhabitants. Originally the fabric was only available in blue designs, but recently the range has been expanded to a wonderful variety of vibrant colours.

The fabric picture is created using applique and freehand machine embroidery, and sewn onto cardstock. The technique involves guiding fabric by hand to achieve the design, any squiggles in the stitching adding to its handmade character.

Due to the hand-made sewing process each picture is slightly different, an individual piece. Every effort will be made to supply a picture with the same background fabric, colour palette and embroidery thread colour as the one you select, but design details and fabrics will vary.