Support us on Patreon! Love to Sew Podcast

Support us on Apple Podcasts! Love to Sew Podcast

Follow Helen! Blog: Helen’s  Closet Patterns, Cedar Quilt Co., Instagram: @helens__closet, @cedarquiltco

Follow Caroline! Shop: Blackbird Fabrics, Instagram: @blackbirdfabrics, @bfpatterns

Follow the Podcast! Instagram: @lovetosew.podcast, Facebook: /LovetoSewPod

Leave us a voicemail with your questions, comments, and feedback: 1-844-SEW-WHAT (1-844-739-9428)

E-mail us: hello@lovetosewpodcast.com

Sign up for our newsletter to get weekly episode updates, special news, and even some exclusive content that you won’t find anywhere else.

Leave us a review! It will help other sewists discover us.

---

Transcript:

Caroline: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Helen: Hello and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co.

Caroline: And I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns.

Helen: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew and it’s all we ever talk about.

Caroline: Today we’re interviewing Jacqueline Shaw, an expert on African fabrics and fashion. We’re going to chat with her about what waxprint is, how it’s made, what you can sew with it, and lots more.

Helen: If you love to sew, this is your show. Hello, Jacqueline. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Jacqueline: Hi, thank you, thank you for the invite. Super excited to talk to you and share a bit more.

Helen: we’re so excited to have you here on the show. Can you please introduce yourself to our listeners?

Jacqueline: Yeah, sure. So, hi everybody, my name’s Jacqueline Shaw, or I go by Brown sometimes. I am the founder of a company called Wax and Wraps, and it is an African prints sewing subscription box. And I am also the founder of a company called Africa Fashion Guide.

Helen: Fantastic. And we can tell a little bit by your accent where you might be from, but can you tell us where you’re at?

Jacqueline: Oh yes, I’m a Brit in and out. I’m British-born to, actually, Jamaican parents. I’ve traveled around Africa a lot. Well, around the world to be sure. Well, in fact, but, um, travel a lot around Africa as well for business.

Caroline: Oh fabulous. Well, we can’t wait to hear more about your career, but the first question we always ask our guests is how and when they learned to sew. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Jacqueline: Wow. You know what? I definitely was a child. I have these memories of, and I always, I have people laugh about it, the people in my family, because I always say, “I never had dolls. I had teddy bears.” So, you know, usually, like, people say, “I used to sew for my dolls.” They have these Barbie dolls and so forth. I never had any dolls. So I had teddy bears and I remember getting scrap fabric from primary school and I would bring it home and I would sew these little vests and shirts for my teddy bears and I’d just hand sew it. I remember I had one of those little hand sewing machines. It was just the weirdest thing ever. And I would just, just sew garments for my bears. So yeah, I was definitely quite young. And always loved it until I was able to get my first sewing machine when I was a teenager.

Helen: Oh, amazing. And did you have family members or friends who sewed as well that guided you or were you self-taught?

Jacqueline: I was mainly self-taught. My mum knew how to sew, but she was mostly a, she used to make us clothes, but she used to do a lot of knitting. So that, I remembered her for knitting. I did try my hand at knitting. I did enjoy it, but I just never kept it up to get good at it. So I just kind of left knitting. But sewing, I taught myself how to make patterns by undoing items of clothing and drawing around the trousers, for example, to see how the pattern pieces were and then just learned how to put it together. And then I did a evening course when I was, I think about 16, 17. I had did an evening course to learn a bit more about sewing and just learn a lot myself through books, literally through books, no internet then, no YouTube or anything, so it was all sewing books that taught me how to do what I needed to do.

Caroline: Oh awesome. Can you tell us what came next for you?

Jacqueline: Yeah, so because of my love for sewing, it evolved into a creative career. So even though my maths teacher would always be annoyed because I didn’t…I was good at maths, but I didn’t do maths or economics. I decided to go down the route of doing arts. So I did, like, Art A-levels, as we call it, and that’s the time between, you finish school at 16 and before you go to university at 18, you do, like, a two year course, we, for us it’s called A-levels or Advanced Level Studies. And so I did art, and then I went on to another one year course, which was a preliminary course before you do a degree in fashion, and I went on to do that fashion degree when I was 19 years old. And from there, I went into a career which I never expected to last me, I think, 17 years. As a designer working for high street brands, retailers. Living in the UK, working for brands there. Germany, Turkey, and China, um, living and working for brands, in sportswear, swimwear and high street fashion. So that became my career, that became all that I loved doing and talked about. And then when I was the grand old age of 30, I went through, I guess, an epitome. I wanted to explore my heritage, being Black British, first-born Black British to Jamaican parents who came over here. I wanted to explore my story and I looked at my heritage from, to Jamaica and from Jamaica.

I’ve heard that my grandfathers were from a group of people called the maroons or the maroon tribe, They were known as, they were runaway slaves. They refused to be slaves. They were warriors, they were powerful people, and they were very skilled in a lot of things that they did. They ran into the mountains, they fought off the Spanish, but were unfortunately overcome by the British, back in the day, during the days of colonization. So that story really hit home for me. I wanted to go to Africa to kind of learn where these people came from. They were from West Africa, and I wanted to learn more because that was my heritage. That was, made me who I am, I guess. So I decided to go to West Africa, first stop to Ghana, and I just completely fell in love.

I really loved the textiles from friends I saw. I’d go to their African parties, or weddings or birthdays and things like that. But when I stepped into Africa the first time and went to Ghana I just fell in love. I just said, “Yes. This is it, whatever it is I’m looking for, this is it.” The textiles, the sounds, the colours, the language, the energy. I just thought, I don’t have this in the UK. The energy alone. Anyone who goes, they always, I see a smile on their face, because they just know there’s so much energy. You just feel you can do anything. And so, I just wanted to explore more, and that’s where I birthed my first clothing line. And then I decided I wanted to do a business all around Africa’s fashion and textile supply chain. So, connect my love for Africa and my heritage with my career and love for fashion.

Helen: That is absolutely amazing. And were you living in Africa at the time in Ghana or were you still living in the UK and kind of traveling back and forth?

Jacqueline: Back then, 2009, I was still living in the UK. I still lived in the UK when I started my business. And at that time, actually, I went and did a master’s. I just, I went to Africa and I came back and I just thought I wanted to do a master’s, I wanted to do something around sustainability. And the first ethical fashion master’s came out in the UK, the first of its kind, and then it was followed by others. And I did that and I decided I’m going to focus on Africa’s supply chain and that’s where my business officially birthed. I did a book, I did a blog, I did a website, I started to do consultancy work and helping brands and designers to source and manufacture fashion and fabrics from Africa. But I was still doing it all from the UK. I just would travel to Africa sometimes three or four times a year, different countries. Every year I was going until the pandemic, literally from 2009 until the pandemic. I did events out there. I took people there or with groups. I do so much. But yeah, that’s kind of my journey so far.

Helen: Very cool. I mean, it sounds like you’ve accomplished so much already and really being a leader in this industry. And you mentioned your book, which is called Fashion Africa. Is that correct?

Jacqueline: Yeah, so Fashion Africa was the book that I self published initially, when I finished my ethical fashion master’s, and then I got founded by a publisher in 2013 and they republished the book officially, published the book in 2014. And it got into some of the major bookshops, it was found and seen across the world, sold across the world. And, now the anniversary edition is out, people can grab hold of that. And I’ve been given three new book deals with the publisher. So, the next in the series of Fashion Africa is Fashion Africa: The Artisan’s Edition. And that’s going to be showcasing everything around the textiles and all the stuff that the artisans make and do on the continent as well, the textile artisans, fashion artisans. So I’m really excited about that and I’ve got a couple of other books coming out after that. But yeah, really exciting time, and the books are like coffee table books, things you can kind of gift and just having your house to show off and look good, you know. Those kind of books, you know those pictures they have on those interior design shows or those magazines and there’s always that big book on the table. And that’s the book. That’s the book you have there. I’m really excited about the anniversary edition being out. So yeah, get your hands on it if you can.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Oh, incredible. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy. And you mentioned Wax and Wraps. So let’s touch on that for a second because that’s a business, like you said, you started in the pandemic, and you’re coming up on a little bit of a period of transition. So can you tell us a little bit about your journey with Wax and Wraps?

Jacqueline: Yeah, this was a really interesting one. So with my main business, the one that I birthed out of my journey for first traveling to Africa and doing my master’s, I was always doing business or doing business which was about memberships and subscriptions and so I knew how to do this. I was quite successful at doing this, and then I was serving people in my main business as a consultant helping people to start fashion businesses made in Africa. Then I realized, you know what, it’s in a pandemic. I’ve got my artisan people, my fashion manufacturers and makers seeking help from me. I’ve got these small businesses and designers who want to do more stuff or will go make money. And I realized, you know what, I could help them through this business model that I’m seeing is really growing, which is subscriptions and memberships. And I said, I’m going to help them to start their own subscription business, doing fabrics or gifts or anything else they put in the box and they can source from around the world. And it would help them if I showed them how by doing it live. So I started Wax and Wraps as a way of showing people how to start this type of box business.

And I said, you know, I’m going to use it as a way to order fabrics and I also put gifts in the box, which are coming from the artisans as well. So maybe African fans or little key rings or things that have been handmade. And I would add those in the boxes as well. So I was purchasing from these artisans and these makers during the pandemic, and I was selling it to people across the world and boxing it up, you know, at home and sending it out each month. And it was, you know, got a hundred subscribers within six weeks. I didn’t even have the proper box finished, but I was just very good at promoting and just getting the community, getting people on board and getting people purchasing. And so I was really happy to, each month, be helping a new artisan.

So I did this to help others to learn how to do it. And they were making, setting up their own boxes. They were doing tea boxes. They were doing other sewing boxes, doing head wraps. They were doing different types of gifts, shea butter and other beauty products, all different types of things my clients were doing. And, you know, getting featured in the New Yorker magazine, getting featured on TV in the UK. It was, it was amazing. It was a really, really exciting time. And I thought I was going to stop it, but I just continued to do it. And, you know, four years later, the box was still going until I made a decision recently, which I’m sure we’ll talk about next, but yeah, that’s really how it started.

Helen: It is such a great idea as a way to showcase all of these different artisans and their work. I love the idea of the little gifts that you’re adding, and a way to share these textiles with a broader audience, which is probably right up your alley. And listening to you talk, I’m struck by just what an entrepreneurial spirit you have and how excited you are to share that with other people.

Jacqueline: Absolutely. I’ve always been an entrepreneur, but never realized it. You know, I used to think it was just a hustle just to make money in the beginning. ‘Cause as a student, you know, you get broke and you just need extra money. So, I could sew. So I started to do that. That I could sew, I could teach people how to do things. Okay. But this time with this business, I felt that there was purpose. With African Fashion Guide going into producing Wax and Wraps, there was a purpose around it and it was more than me. It was more than just, you know, a quick hustle just to make some money. It was about trade. It was about changing perceptions of what people thought about Africa. It was about building economy. And I get so inspired when I go over to the continent and see what people make and the resilience. And I just think, you know what, I’m in a so-called first world country and there’s people who are so much more lazier than those I’m meeting across in the African continent. They’re not all, they’re not all, you know, like that, but there’s many I meet that just inspire me to keep going with business and to build on purpose. So yeah, it’s definitely a purpose business and one that I do call a God purpose business because it wasn’t me. I believe it was God that inspired me to do this and gave me a reason. And there’s something that I always have to give praise to God and have to, you know, share that part of my story that is related to my faith as well.

Helen: Mmhmm. So where are you headed next with this business? You mentioned that you’re transitioning. Tell us a little bit about that.

Jacqueline: Yes. So, the last couple of years, even though I was still doing the boxes, I, um, in 2021, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I did catch it quite early and again, really thankful to God I was able to get it operated on. I went through chemo, radiotherapy as well, and had my all-clear end of last autumn, or fall, shall I say, and so, itself makes me think about things. The boxes kept me going, the boxes, and the purpose of that, and the customers, and everything I was doing, helping and supporting people, kept me going. And I was really happy to keep going. But then in the last six months after I got my all-clear, I started to think about purpose again. And what is it that I really want to do? Why did I do what, start what I’m doing? And it was about, you know, supporting artists and supporting the makers, manufacturers, building trade, changing perceptions, going back to the root of why I was doing this. And I knew that with some of the consultancy work that I still do, I wanted to help support the artisans in a deeper way with capacity building, with business training, with market access and teaching them how to do that. And I’ve been able to do that through projects I’ve done on the continent right now. As we speak, I’m working with an organization in Sierra Leone. I’m going back and forth and supporting groups of brands, designers, and makers in their capacity-building, in their market access and understanding business and in greater ways. And I want to do more of that. So I decided that I would stop doing Wax and Wraps, not just because I want to, but because I feel it’s the best decision to do that.

I feel that by focusing down on the capacity building side of it, I’ll be able to equip some of those makers with more of the skills that they need to be able to enter more markets and build more trade, more than I could do with the boxes. Getting them in front of others, where they can get bigger orders, for me, is even more impact. So I want to put all my energy into that. And I’ve been testing it out and it’s been good so far and I want to just build it, get some funding, and launch the platforms for that as well. So there’s a lot to come for the rest of this year, which is quite exciting. The boxes, the products, even though the patterns and the kit that’s…full sewing kits won’t be available, people will still be able to access fabrics that I still bring from the continent and some of the gift items available on the website fashionafricatradeexpo.com, or the FATE as I like to call it, but that website people can still purchase products from there because there is a shop page there. So, items are still available, but just not in the same way that it was before with Wax and Wraps.

Caroline: Awesome. Yeah, we’ll definitely link up all of these things that we’ve been talking about in the show notes so that if our listeners want to go discover some of these beautiful textiles, they can go and do that. We really do want to get into talking about the fabrics themselves, but I think we’re going to take a quick break first and we’ll be right back.

Love to Sew is made possible by listeners like YOU! We are so grateful for the support of our amazing patrons and subscribers. If you love Love to Sew and you want to help support the pod, we have a new option for you.

Helen: You can now become a paid subscriber on Apple Podcasts! Subscribers get access to our monthly bonus episodes. It’s so convenient; if you already use Apple Podcasts, the episodes are right there in your feed!

Caroline: So, what are the bonus episodes? Well, we do a chatty catch-up on what’s been happening in our lives, share about the realities of running a small business, discuss new indie pattern releases, and talk about what we’re sewing right now! Many of our subscribers say these fun bonus episodes are their favourite, and if you subscribe, you get access to the full back catalogue. That’s over 75 hours of Love to Sew! We also do a mini-episode that deep dives into a specific topic. We get to discuss so many fun sewing techniques and answer specific subscriber questions about sewing!

Helen: And we are still on Patreon! If you subscribe over there you can get access to the bonus episodes, behind-the-scenes photos, and a special 15% off discount code at our superfan patron tier. That discount applies at Helen’s Closet, Cedar Quilt Co., Blackbird Fabrics, and BF patterns. If you shop with us regularly, it basically pays for itself!
Head to patreon.com/lovetosew to see all perks and options.

Caroline: If you’d like to try out Patreon or Apple podcast subscriptions and check out our bonus content, you can sign up for a free 7-day trial. And, of course, you can help support the show by listening, just like you are right now. You can also leave a review! Reviews really help our show to get discovered by new listeners. We know that financial support isn’t always possible and we want you to know that we love you for listening!

Helen: Go to patreon.com/lovetosew or visit our show’s page in the apple podcast app to become a paid subscriber. Thank you to all of our listeners, patrons and subscribers – you’re the best!

Caroline: All right Jacqueline, so we really want to talk about waxprint fabrics, and we thought the first thing we could do is just explain what is a waxprint. Can you do that for us?

Jacqueline: Okay, so yes, waxprint, this is a bit of a bane for many of those who are in the African fashion industry who are real supporters of Made in Africa. So waxprint fabric, it’s a technique of fabric. It’s, many people call it African print, some call it ankara, especially on the African continent in West Africa, they’ll call it ankara. Some call it chitenge, kitenge in East Africa. And there’s so many other terminologies for it, but it’s recognised a lot around the world as African print. It’s very colourful. Originally, it’s like a resist dye using hot wax technique that was originated from Indonesia, and it was copied by Dutch salesmen. They saw it there, they wanted to sell it, but because the way, the way that they did it, it had, like, this brokenness in the print that made it look like it wasn’t finished properly. That it looked like a mistake, but they saw it as an opportunity to, because of the bright colours and as they were passing through Africa, from Asia, they would see, the dark skinned black people there, or just black people, because all kinds of skin shades, and they would see, it’d be great for them. So they were selling it there and selling it through Africa, and it became very popular. African people adopted it themselves. So it is, a technique that was originally Indonesian is now very much a Dutch or Netherlands product, but it’s been produced in many countries around the world now, but notoriously in China. And, it’s got a lot of popularity. Many of the prints have symbols on them. It could be things like bags, it could be actual symbols, it could be adinkra which is related to West African history, which has meanings as well. Or it could just be images. And it’s got stories and there’s some very interesting ones with birds and all sorts on it. So it’s very interesting with the stories. And markets in Africa have adopted it.

But the debate is, and which I’ve put in my own blogs as well, “Is waxprint African? Is African waxprint?” And, you know, what I appreciate, I love waxprint, I think it’s great print, great colour, it’s vibrant, it’s fun, it’s unique. But what I do love to support as well, which is what we do sell and put in our Wax on Wax boxes, is actual batik prints, which I think probably more listeners are more familiar with. So your hand printed batiks, hand blocked prints, done by producers or makers in Africa. And different countries have different techniques, so Ghana will have, like, your traditional batik print. In Nigeria, they have a version that they call adire, and that’s got a technique for it that they use wax resist. They also do tie and dye, and that’s done in Sierra Leone, done in The Gambia, done all around West Africa, East Africa as well. But all these techniques are used in this kind of wax relief prints as well. So those are two, kind of, versions of the same technique, but just one is hand done and one is done by machine these days.

Caroline: Awesome. So the batik, is that the one that’s hand done and the African waxprints generally are done by machine? Or am I getting that wrong?

Jacqueline: Yeah, well, waxprints, they used to do them using hand techniques as well, but a bit more mechanized in the machine, what they would use to produce it. But now a lot of it goes to to some of the waxprint factories. Like, Vlisco is one of the biggest-known factories who do it. And they own waxprint houses in Ghana, in Senegal, in Tanzania as well, so there’s… and I think Ivory Coast, am I correct? There’s definitely a few African countries that have waxprint houses now and it’s all mechanized now, but they’ll still kind of give it the same look and feel. But the one that’s done by hand is the one that literally, if you remember potato printing at school when you were kids and, you know, like the same technique, but using hot wax, and that’s the one I just love.

But the challenge with that, which many people don’t think about, which is, it’s a great technique and it’s nice to keep something traditional, made in Africa. But the, the inks, many dyes are coming from abroad, many from China, and they’re not exactly what they call REACH certified. So REACH is, it’s an acronym, all about the dyes and the sustainable side of that and certification around that. So if it’s not certified, toxin free, if it’s not the best quality dyes, it could be harmful. And if you’ve ever seen a batiker, they don’t often wear masks, they don’t often wear gloves, so their hands are being exposed to those dyes and their noses are taking it in or breathing it in their mouth or noses. So there is an issue with that technique and there seems to be a rise of interest at the moment with adire from Nigeria, batik prints and tie ‘n’ dye at the moment from Africa. So it’s kind of like the lesser of two evils. It’s great because it supports African makers. It’s handmade, it’s traditional techniques. But then the dyes they’re using…there is an amazing organization in Burkina Faso. It was supported by the International Trade Center in Geneva, it’s the part of the UN, and they worked with them to develop these prints using dyes that are from nature, so you can think things like turmeric or saffron, maybe not saffron, it’s quite expensive, but turmeric or onion or tomato or things or peppers or things like that would just make the colours. They’ve been working with that group, a group in Burkina Faso, to be able to do that as a development project. So there’s opportunities there, but it’s a bigger need now with the growth of handmade, hand printed fabrics.

Helen: Right. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Can you give our listeners a bit of an overview of how the process actually works when it comes to creating these fabrics? Obviously, there’s hot wax involved. Is that applied to the fabric and then the dye is applied?

Jacqueline: Yes, so, sometimes they’ll use a stamp, and the stamp could be made from wood, the stamp could be made from just different materials, and they would cut out sometimes a sponge, like an actual sponge-sponge, but they will cut out the design, so whatever it may be. Usually just kind of like a symbol that doesn’t really mean anything, or it could be an actual symbol that means something. So they will tend to cut that out. In some techniques they will use, like, a kind of pen kind of item, especially when they’re doing the adire, because adire is a bit more hands-on. I’ve got some videos over on Africa Fashion Guide on Instagram, you can see some of the techniques they’ve done using a pen kind of tool, and they will just draw onto the fabric.

So you have your, your base fabric, your white fabric or in the greige colour, and they will just draw in that with the hot wax. It’s very much an expertise because they have to know, especially if there’s multiple colors, you have to know when to put what dye and what colours to put. And because, obviously, colours will wrap, then the blue and yellow make green, for example. So you have to kind of know what you’re putting on and when. So they would draw, draw it on and then they would dye it. Or they would dye the fabric, let’s say, yellow, and then they would put the wax on that, and they might put your name, and then they would dye it with the wax on, they dye it with blue, the parts without wax would now turn green. And then they would remove the wax and there’ll be the yellow still underneath it from the original dye, if that makes sense. So you have to think about, what colour do you want, and when do you dye the full thing and so forth. But it’s a great technique and that’s kind of the basics of it. With tie and dye it’s a bit different because then you would put string around where you want the design to be and you’ll tie it up. And then you dye that whole thing, and where the string is, you take that off, then you see the base kind of fabric, or the original white fabric, or beige fabric. And, those are quite fun. Those are quite fun, because it’s a bit more unique, but again, it’s a technique, a serious technique that you have to have the expertise for. And there’s so much more in it. I’m not an expert on it, but I’ve seen it, but there’s so much more can go into the kind of mordants you use and all kind of, it gets very technical with dyeing. But it’s a great technique that you can then build your own prints. And that’s the joy of it. With waxprint, it is as it is, those who use it will find that they could be wearing the same thing as somebody else if they’ve bought that fabric. Whereas, with the tie and dye and batiks, you’re now creating that. And that’s why I want to introduce other people to that joy of creating your own fabric with a drawing of it, or somebody or a tree or, you know, your names or words or you know, whatever, a car or something like that. I love that flexibility of the batik fabrics.

Caroline: And typically, what sort of base cloth is used for these waxprints or batiks? Is it a specific fiber content or weight or weave that they use?

Jacqueline: With the batiks, it’s better with cotton, a fabric that can dye easily. So it’s a bit more trickier with, like, satins or silks. Though they will take it, or jersey fabrics, they will take it but it won’t be the best. So cotton fabrics, ones that are a bit more porous, are able to take in the colours. That’s kind of the best route really. With waxprints, again, if it’s a hundred percent cotton, that’s a good way to check as well. If it’s a good quality waxprint and if it is, like, African-made or from the Netherlands with Vlisco, is that it will be a hundred percent cotton. When China started to copy a lot of this and cause a lot of issues, and this is not a, you know, a thing against China, but it’s against the fake fabrics that were coming into African countries and taking a lot of the local business from African businesses. A lot of them were not 100 percent cotton. They were poly-cottons. And poly-cotton is what you use in linings, you know, it’s not the best quality, it’s not breathable. It’s polyester, which is oil; it’s not the best for your skin. And many of these fabrics were 100 percent polyester or 80/20 poly-cotton. Then they were getting better and better, to the 50/50, to the 20/80 poly-cotton, so it’s more cotton rich, and now they’re doing a lot of copies that are 100 percent cotton. So it has evolved, but it still is an issue of taking away the local business. So that is where you may find in this industry, a lot of people will have an issue with Chinese fabrics because they will be taking that business from the African businesses. But generally, those are the fabric bases that would be best for waxprints and for batik/tie dyes.

Helen: I wonder if there’s a way for people to tell where a waxprint came from or if it is authentic or 100 percent cotton. Is there some way to know when we’re shopping for this type of fabric?

Jacqueline: Yes, so with waxprints, well, a great thing they do is they have on the selvage, which is the top edge and bottom edge of the fabric, they’ll have, like, a code, they’ll have, like, the company who made it. So if you see “Vlisco” or “100 percent Holland wax,” you know, it’s there, if you know, and then they’ll have the print on it as well. So I have like a sticker and the sticker is stuck on the, when they fold it up and they go to sell in six yards, they come in six yards packs for the waxprint, they will have a sticker on the front and the sticker will show the brand of where it comes from. And. If you know the main brands, so: ATL is factory that does the waxprint in Ghana for example, they have another company called Printex, they have, another company called GTP, Ghana Textile Print, ATAL is Akosombo Textile Limited, I believe it’s called. And those are owned by Vlisco, which is a Holland company, which I spoke about the Dutch salesmen previously. So they own that company. Their ones are the ones that are made in Africa, so you know you’re getting that, they’re 100 percent cotton, you know where it’s coming from, you know the source. It’s probably more expensive, is another way to check, because the Chinese ones, or the imported ones, tend to be very cheap. And there’s a company called High Target, who does, who actually does do some very nice prints, but they are a Chinese-owned one. So that’s one company, you know, and there’s many others. There’s so many, generally the cost will tell you that this is probably Chinese. The Vlisco ones, sometimes between like 60, 80, 100, 120, 150 pounds and dollars. Whereas the Chinese version would be 15 pounds or 20 dollars.

Helen: It’s like a, “if it’s too good to be true” kind of situation. Yeah.

Jacqueline: The price would generally tell you the difference where it’s coming from.

Helen: I want to come back to the prints that are on these beautiful fabrics. You mentioned there are some recurring prints and I understand there’s some classic or popular prints that get made over and over in different iterations. Can you talk a little bit about how people come up with these designs?

Jacqueline: Yes, I actually created a mini book around this, which you can get the link to it on my Instagram @waxandwraps, it’s, Guide to Waxprint, and it’s only like 5.99 or 8 dollars or something like that, it’s quite cheap. And it goes into quite a lot of the prints and the heritage. So some of it, for example, people will do, maybe based on a political situation, so there’s one called Nkrumah’s Finger, and that, Nkrumah was one of the most popular Ghanaian presidents, who a lot of, a lot of things around the country, the impact he had, the changes that were made coming out, like, from independence, he put a lot of things in place, a lot. There’s a lot of love and support for him, and so there’s a waxprint named after him. There’s one that’s got, they call, um, previous FLOTUS Michelle Obama. And there’s one for her bag, Michelle Obama’s Bag. And there’s some which has roller skates on it, there’s one with, um, birds in a cage, and it’s all around marriage and relationships. And so there’s all these different prints, and there was a group in the UK, so in the UK, in a place called Manchester, England, ABC, which is one of the waxprint houses in the UK, and they would also have the factory, they do the prints in the factory in Ghana. They had print designers and the designers were, some from Netherlands, some from Ghana, some from England, and they would design it based on some of these old, I don’t want to say “old wives’ tales,” but these old, just stories or advice that you would say to somebody. Because it’s not like, if you, if you know about some of these fabrics, in Kenya, they’ve got a fabric called the kanga. And the kanga is a printed fabric, you could call it their version of, they’ve got a kitenge which is your typical kind of waxprint that you may be familiar with, but they’ve got one which looks like the kind of scarf that Versace would do, those kind of big massive scarves. And it has a frame around the outside and it’s got, like, a print design in the inside, the inside square, the big inside square, and the small kind of frame, outside frame. And on that outside frame, there would be words in Swahili, which is the language they, well, the language they’re speaking in Kenya and East Africa, like Uganda, for example, as well, and Tanzania. And these words were phrases and they were messages. So people would use it, they’ll give gifts of fabrics to people and they would use it as a way to share a message, a warning, a, just a message, something they would say to the person they’re giving it to. So in that way there’s kind of like a kind of subliminal messaging within that or sharing of a story or sharing something with families and loved ones when it gets shipped out so they would know what they’re saying to them. Whereas, um, the ones that you find typically in West Africa, they’ll have, there’ll be storytelling, the things that your grandmother might tell you, those kinds of stories, which I just love. But a lot of it now is just, you know, it’s just a pattern, a print. Or if it’s a political story or something, there’s a political thing happening, they might have a picture of the local president. If there’s an inauguration happening, they’ll have special waxprints made for that. Or for funerals or special occasions. So there’s so much, there’s so much. But yeah, that little book I mentioned, The Guide to Waxprint, gives them some insights to the really popular old school waxprints that are out there. So I would definitely say to people, grab that if you can.

Helen: Yeah, that sounds like a great resource. I love this element of storytelling and history as well. The fact that these fabrics can contain information about things that have happened in the past or warnings, like you were saying, that’s so interesting. Do you have a personal favourite print that you’ve encountered?

Jacqueline: Oh, I, I struggle. I struggle with that because for me it’s about the colour. Because it could be a print that I like, like the Nkrumah’s Finger, like I mentioned, that’s, that’s a great print. It kind of looks like backgammon, in some ways. But it has to be in the right colour. I made a coat out of that, a green coat out of that and, like, that colour just made it. I just liked it because it made me think of it, kind of this army print kind of feel to it. The kind of camouflage kind of colourways, which I kind of liked about it. But if I, when I see that in avocado, it just doesn’t look right. So for me, it’s really about the colour and can I rock that? Do I have the swag to rock that? You know, as the kids would say. But yeah, I am old enough to say that now, I’m in my 40s, I’m allowed to. But yeah, for me, it’s about, it’s about the colour. The colourways, really. And, how it would look on the design that I have. So yeah, no favourites. Just give them, give me them all in the right colours.

Helen: Yes. Give me more.

Caroline: I’m sure it must be impossible to choose.

Jacqueline: If you see my office, you’d be like, okay, I see what you’re talking about. Give her them all for real. I have so many that I’m so-called sewing and making at the same time and they’re still sitting there. I just don’t want to cut them, but I want to make something, but I don’t want to cut it. Cause you know, it’s your babies. You sew, you know. It’s your babies, you don’t want to cut your babies now, don’t you?

Caroline: I love that. A lot of our listeners are home sewers and I wonder if you have any tips that are specific to waxprint fabrics in relation to how to treat them, how to care for them, how to prep them for sewing, that kind of thing.

Jacqueline: Absolutely. I think the first thing is about taking the sticker off. So you want to remove the sticker, but you will find as soon as you try to peel it off…I don’t know what the gum they use or some of these companies, but it doesn’t necessarily peel off very well. So you end up just battling with getting all the last little bits off. The best thing with that is you can put some water on it on that side, but you turn it over on the back side and you’ve got a hot iron. You use that. You steam the back to be able to remove the sticker. That’s the best way so you don’t have the residue and you’re, you’re fighting with yourself to remove it.

So that’s the first thing. The second thing is around the way that you wash it and keep it. Again, so if you’ve got 100 percent cotton, you’ll find some of them that you buy feel quite stiff, and that’s because they will probably starch it. So you want to be able to remove that. Use a soft washing powder. Maybe something, like, you’d use on babies. Something that’s gentle that won’t really harm the prints. You might find that some of the print dye might still be coming out a little bit if it’s been hand dyed as well, you might find that. So you want to make sure that you wash it in a cool wash or you can hand wash it just to soften it up a bit to remove some of the starch and then it’d be good to go. I mean, to be fair, with any fabrics I would recommend washing because you just, you know, you just don’t know where it’s coming from. It’s coming, you know, being shipped internationally, so it’s a good thing. But it’s good to do that, as well. I would also say, iron it along the journey because that helps to, to keep your design or whatever you’re making, looking good. Like ironing your cuffs, ironing your hems, all that stuff to make sure that it finishes, that the finish of it is well. Pre-washing it is really important. Avoid twisting it, avoid wringing it, because it is cotton, you want to kind of keep it looking good. Yeah, some people will use professional cleaning, that’s up to you. Yeah, that’s really the main things I would say. And a lot of this I put in, that little guidebook as well, to waxprint, it’s in there as well.

Helen: Fantastic. I love that you mentioned pressing because we make a point of telling our listeners all the time how important it is to press as you’re making your projects. And one of my favourite things about waxprints is the structure that they have. And you can make these beautiful kind of poofy sleeves or these moments where it has so much amazing volume. Did you have any project, or like, sewing pattern ideas that you wanted to share with our listeners as far as what you think these fabrics make good projects for?

Jacqueline: Yes. First of all, I think they’re really great for blazers. I love a waxprint blazer. I think they are amazing. And then secondly, off-the-shoulder tops with the puff sleeve, like you said. I have given that in a few of my projects as a dress, as a top, as it’s a really big puff sleeve. You might want a bit of elastication around the top edge as well. But those really, really do well. And as I’ve mentioned that, the blazers, even just coats as well. They, they really just hold well. And full dresses. I know a lot of people do, like I’ve got, a high-low dress. It’s just so majestic because it just, you come in the room and everybody sees you because, like I said, they’re quite stiff as well, and you have this low back and this high front for the hem I’m talking about. Oh it’s just so impact, it’s just so impactful. The maxi. It’s great for maxis, and I know people, designers who tend to do, like, the three-in-one kind of dress, where you can, the top of it, you can adjust it to create a different silhouette at the top. So that’s quite good, and you just have this full, full skirt. So anything that you want kind of pizzazz, if you want to be seen, anything structured as well, you want to do your corsetry, it’s great for that. So think of it as a tailored fabric, and any kind of volume, you’re going to create impact. As my Jamaican family would say, “They will know when you come and they will feel it when you’re gone.” The impression, and they’ll say that with the accent, of course, but I don’t want to embarrass myself in case any Jamaicans are listening, but they, you know, they, you, they will, they’ll, they’ll know when you come into that room because you’ll make an impact; when you’re gone, they’ll be like, “Something’s missing.” So that’s waxprint for you.

Caroline: Those all sound like incredible ideas. And they also sound like they would use up a fair amount of fabric, especially if you’re doing, like, a maxi-style dress or something that’s a convertible style. But I also understand that waxprints aren’t necessarily sold by the yard. How are they usually sold?

Jacqueline: Well, we have been. We’ve been selling them, well, at least as three-yard packs minimum. But, generally, you tend to get them as a six-yard pack. Some will do twelve yards, especially if you’re getting it from the factories, but a six-yard pack is the way to go. And that’s because, traditionally, in African countries when it comes to dress, so what you wear in the West is not traditionally what you’d wear in Africa. You’d have what you call a wrapper, you would have a boubou top, and then you’d have a head wrap. So the six yards, for a woman, that is, by the way, six yards tend to be the amount that you’d need to do the wrapper skirt, which is literally the fabric tied around your waist. And then the boubou, as you’ve seen a lot of these, think of like a kaftan, but as a top and that would be tucked into this, the wrapper skirt, and then you’d have the, the head wrap. So that’s it. That’s what the six yards were for. That’s the way it was cut traditionally. So that’s how you would buy them.

Helen: Okay, amazing. Thank you. Well, speaking of wearing these amazing prints, a lot of us in the sewing community want to make sure that we’re using these culturally significant fabrics and designs with the respect that they deserve. And we wanted to hear your perspective on when it’s appropriate to wear this fabric and what people should maybe keep in mind when they’re buying it and wearing it.

Jacqueline: Yeah. So this is what I get a lot of discussion, especially in my groups, because since Wax and Wraps was launched, many would think, oh, you know, our customers are mostly black or they’re mostly Africans. And yes, of course I had black buyers, mostly female. I have some men, but mostly female. Africans, yes. But a large proportion were white British ladies, European ladies, white Europeans, of a particular age, like, in later stages of their life, 50s and upwards. That would be a large part of my customers. And I guess, you know, the sewing community, there’s, you know, a lot of women of that age, And that’s why you’d have a lot of new groups arise, like Black Girls Sew, or Stitch Please, with Lisa, she’s amazing. So many I can mention, but there’s, that’s probably why there’s been evolving a lot of, like, Black Women Sewing. But, when it comes to appropriation, I think there’s some, well, waxprint, again, as I said, it’s not traditionally an African thing, but it’s been adopted by Africa. So people will see it as African, but it’s not African, initially. But I would say: if you like it, you wear it. When it comes to things like, what is traditionally African, such as things like kente, such as things like the adire in Nigeria or country cloth in Cote d’Ivoire or Burkina Faso or many other countries. Things that are traditionally African. I would say it’s about understanding, like, even me, myself, I’m black, but I need to appreciate as well. I bought fabric, which was kente from Ghana. I made a coat out of it. You might think, “Okay, what’s the problem with that? You know, you’re black as well. You’re making a coat. You’re appreciating that.” With kente, you know, you’re not supposed to cut the fabric. It’s meant to be wrapped. That’s why you see, like, the traditional Ghanaian man, and he has the fabric wrapped around his body. It’s a style, it’s a heritage, it’s a culture, it’s history, it’s tradition. That’s the way you do it, and the same with the women. And so I’m not really supposed to cut it, but I did. And I know that, you know, it’s not that it’s frowned upon because people do these days, but traditionally that’s not how you use it. So it’s just understanding it, knowing where it’s coming from, appreciating that, sharing that with people to say, look, I got this, it’s actually printed in, in Ghana or Kenya and these words around it mean this. And so educating yourself, if there is a meaning when you buy the fabrics, that’s why that little guidebook I mentioned is helpful. Then you can tell people what it means if you’re getting those prints. But other than that, I say that it’s, the prints are there for everybody to wear. Especially now, a lot of people are loving African culture. It’s really trending, the dances, the foods, the languages. Yeah, I say just get educated as well. I think that’s important to know where it’s coming from. And share that, so people are educated by you as well when you get your education.

Caroline: Yeah, that’s a really good point. I think it’s important to both appreciate the textiles and also kind of make sure that you know where they’re coming from and if you’re going to wear them, be able to share a little bit about their origins and all of the, you know, wonderful work that went into creating those textiles. I think that’s a nice way to nod to those makers. I wonder if we have any listeners out there who are excited about working with these textiles and love the look of the bold prints and colours like waxprint fabrics, but who are maybe nervous about trying something different from their usual style. Do you have any advice for those sewists out there who are a little nervous to dive in?

Jacqueline: I would say you never know until you try it. You know, I, you know, I have Jamaican heritage and in Jamaica, culturally there wasn’t, it wasn’t a waxprint even though there was a traditional wear that was originated from slave masters, basically the Scottish, the British, slave plantation owners. There was a traditional wear that kind of came from that and the Indian, um, the Madras as well, that as well. But I started to wear the fabrics. I was learning because I had so many African friends and I was going to parties and things and I wanted, I needed to fit in, for that because that’s how it is culturally, you wear the fabrics. So I would start to learn, I would understand, that’s how I started to build my education. And then I was able to share with others. I just say, it’s something where you’ll never know until you dive in. Reach out to people like myself if you want to know a bit more. Wax and Wraps page is still open, Africa Fashion Guide, my other page is open. Happy to share, happy to educate, it’s something that I do. Try it. Start with the waxprints. If you’re interested, if you love batiks, you love that rawness of the batiks, then go for that. But there’s so much out there. And if you can, buy from African makers, African sources. I would say that’s better because then you’re bringing trade to the continent. You’re bringing trade to African businesses. So I’d encourage that, or black-owned at least, especially if they are sourcing from Africa, because not all of them will be sourcing from Africa. But if you can buy from a black-owned business, then that’s a great way to start, and that’s your way of supporting African-made or African-sourced or black-owned.

Helen: Yeah, we’ll definitely be linking up some resources in our show notes for this episode so folks can go and find some of these gorgeous fabrics. And before we wrap up the interview here, we wanted to touch on Women’s History Month because it’s March and it’s Women’s History Month. Jacqueline, you are a very inspiring woman. It’s been amazing hearing about your journey and how much you do to uplift other people in your community and in the world, like truly globally. It’s so cool. And we were wondering if you had any thoughts on, I don’t know, following your dreams, I guess? Encouragement for our audience out there. We have a lot of women listeners and I’m sure they’d love to hear your little “pep talk,” if you will.

Jacqueline: Oh yes, you know what, as I mentioned from the beginning, this was all about purpose for me. I’m an entrepreneur and I’m a creative, which is just like, can be crazy because if you know, entrepreneurs have loads of ideas and they don’t fit into the norm and then creatives also don’t fit into norm and have a million thousand ideas. So purpose should drive whatever you’re doing. I think it’s really important, especially when you’re doing things to support other people. So I would just encourage you to ask yourself why, why I want to do this, why I want to get into, why, or even why I want to sew, whatever it may be. But if you want to start a business or you want to do something, then look at your why, look at who you could be impacting, positively impacting. And you have a story. Everybody has a story. My story just happened to start off with me exploring my cultural heritage, my background, my history. It then evolved with me having breast cancer a few years ago. And it’s something which, everything that happens makes you and it makes whatever you’re doing even more impactful to somebody else, is part of your story. And I just want to encourage anybody that whatever you’re going through, whatever your reason why you’re doing what you’re doing, remember that. Purpose will drive you to do it, even when times get tough. Even when the money’s not coming in, even when nobody wants to buy, even when people copy what you’re doing, all the things that’s happened to me, or you get sick, or life changes, or a pandemic happens, your purpose will drive you. And evolution, there’s nothing wrong if you evolve it as well. Things change. Things may look different, but your why must always be at the center of what you’re doing.

Caroline: Wow. Thank you so much, Jacqueline. You’re such an inspiration and it was such a pleasure talking to you today. We can’t wait to see what’s next for you. I know we’ll be following along and I hope our listeners will as well. Can you tell our listeners where they can find you online, where they can follow along?

Jacqueline: Yes, absolutely. So, Instagram: @waxandwraps or @africafashionguide. That’s “Africa,” not “African.” Africa Fashion Guide. The same on TikTok. I do probably do more on TikTok these days and on Instagram. And then website: so I’m actually rebuilding the Africa Fashion Guide website, but I say for the moment you can go to JacquelineShaw.co.uk and that tells you a little bit more about myself, my history, and the kind of things that I do. And if you want to get fabrics, It’s fashionafricatradeexpo.com or you might want to find some African suppliers. So that’s what happens on that website, too. So hopefully that will help you and feel free to send me a DM. Let me know you heard this podcast and that the ladies are great at Love to Sew and I’d love to, if you’re interested in more fabrics and understanding it, I’ll be happy to help and explain more.

Helen: wonderful. Yeah. Thank you so, so much. We’ll link up everything we chatted about today in our show notes. It’s easy to find. And yeah, Jacqueline, we just had a joy talking to you. Thank you so much.

Jacqueline: Thank you. It’s been my pleasure

Caroline: Okay. Talk to you soon. Take care. Bye!

Helen: Bye! That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me, Helen, at Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co. and Caroline at Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns. We’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Caroline: You can support Love to Sew and get access to bonus content by subscribing on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. You even get access to the back catalogue of bonus episodes. That’s over 75 hours of Love to Sew. Go to patreon.com/lovetosew or check out our podcast page on Apple Podcasts for more info.

Helen: Head to lovetosewpodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. If you’d like to get in touch with us, you can leave us a message at 1-844-SEW-WHAT. That’s 1-844-739-9428, or send us an email at hello@lovetosewpodcast.com.

Caroline: Thanks to our amazing podcast team! Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant, Jordan Moore of the Pod Cabin is our editor. And thank you for listening. We will talk to you next week.

Helen: Bye.

Related Episodes