Don't Mess with a Quilter

Ohmygodisitonly4am?
I can’t sleep. Crummy for me. Worse for Lance because this means I will probably be such a delight in a few hours. Good for you though because, since I can’t sleep because I have travel stories running through my head I might as well share them. Like this one I’m calling, “Don’t mess with a quilter" and takes place during our Nambia trip.

So for three of the four days we were in the capital city of Windhoek, Lance had meetings at the embassy, leaving me to my own devices. I researched and prioritized and on day one hit all the fabric stores I could find! First was formerly De Gama, now Jackson textiles.

What was really exciting about this place is the “Lollipop Line” of Shwe shwee they have on order. Nothing in stock yet but the owner showed off the samples and they are going to be so much fun! We can only get red , blue, brown and the very very rare purple in Botswana. Here’s hoping the brighter colors make their way East.Another surprise was a limited line of 100% fabric printed in South Africa specifically for quilters. As fabric imported from American designers are so prohibitively expensive, it’s great to see the SA fabric industry targeting the quilters.Down a busy street and through three other fabric stores. Most was standard home decor or formal wear polyester fabrics. Nothing that really said “Africa!” Several of the stores had modest selections of large pattern, wax displacement, West African batik but high prices and our upcoming trip to Cameroon kept me from being too tempted. Again, many of the stores "cotton" sections were dominated by fabric produced in China. This at least is the origin story grumbled by other shoppers looking for traditional fabrics. It doesn't tend to be anything spectacular from a design perspective, is really thin and hard to work with. But you work with what you've got so I've been playing with some I picked up in Gabs.
A few hours were spent wondering through the very touristy but kinda fun craft market. Local fund raising projects were there as well as a few local artists. I didn’t take a lot of pictures because my phone was low on juice and I needed to save it for calling the cab home and in case Lance tried to reach me. We were saving the camera (sans charger) for the dunes later in the trip.

So I’m in a “Local Craft Store” seeing stuff that is gorgeous and totally overpriced which I know because I’ve seen it all along a dozen roadsides in four other countries by now. Wood carvings, decorated ostrich eggs, beaded animals galore. At this point it takes a lot to impress me but then these caught my eye and I got excited!
The photos don't do them justice. Very simple and familiar techniques: Hawaiian looking applique, sashiko-like top stitching and crazy quilt piecing. Fan-tas-tic true cotton fabrics! I'm hyped and eager to find out which country they came from. One of the clerks tells me she doesn’t know as her boss orders them.

A few minutes later another clerk tells me, “Local woman.”
Me: No seriously, where do they come from?
Her: Local woman. She makes them in her home.
Me: What?
Her: She makes them and sells them to us.
Me: Right.
And I walk out.

Having just been to a good sample of stores where the "local women" get their supplies and not seeing ANYTHING (!!!!!) like the fabrics used in those quilts I was positive this clerk was totally lying to me.

Screw that. Screw you. I’m outta here.

The next day I found myself in the market's satellite store and asked the clerk there if she knew where the quilts came from. She honestly answered that she didn’t know. Closer inspection revealed a “Made in India” tag sew onto one of the seams. Oh my G. Turns out hardly anything in that store is really made in Namibia! India, China (again with China), Zimbabwe ...

Caveat Emptor I suppose. The clerk in the satellite store commented that many of her peers will tell shoppers that items are by Namibians because they believe it will increase the odds of a sale. Street sellers are always saying that that their items are crafted by their aunts or fathers “back home” so that seems to lend credence. I think this is an international scam as Lance and I purchase a very very leaky cup and saucer while in Korea, made by the shop owner’s father who ironically seemed to be making identical cups for all the other shops on the street as well.

Like I said. Lance and I are increasingly hard to impress. They were really nice looking quilts though. : )