Art and Design A comprehensive guide for creative artists - Aaltodoc

A woman
wearing
a kanga/
lesu fabric
displaying
a portrait
of President
Barack Obama
of United
States.
On the other hand, people from different parts of the world
especially Africa wear decorated fabrics for very many
outstanding reasons. Otiso (2006, 80) asserts, “dress is one of
the most important means of expressing individual, ethnic,
religious, class, gender, age and professional identity.” We
can conclude from this that, acquiring skills of decorating
fabrics is not the only way of making it extremely useful.
Uses of decorated fabrics
Getting creative is always helpful for artists who wish to
unearth the most essential uses of decorated fabrics. We can
understand that from Otiso's (2006, 76) explanation about
the different ways dress is used in Uganda; “It is commonly
worn on special occasions such as weddings, marriage
betrothals, funerals ceremonies, national formal events,
church functions and audiences with dignitaries.” Yet again,
in some parts of the world decorated fabrics are gender
specific.
Here is a review of some basic uses of fabric decoration:
• Fabric decoration brings about beauty and
appreciation to a wearer.
• Fabric decoration distinguishes us by roles in
society. For example, a school uniform is different
from one worn by a sports person.
• Fabrics are decorated for sell—in exchange for
money, to earn a living. Most fabrics are exported
or imported.
• Some people do fabric decoration as a hobby. By
printing, tailoring, or creating striking fashions and
design.
• Politicians or popular group supporters use
decorated fabrics such as T-shirts to show their
affiliations. Moreover, when President Barack
Obama of United States was getting inaugurated
in January 2009 people in Africa wore bandanas
and other traditional kangas (a cloth routinely
wrapped around; mostly worn by women—from a
waist and up in the chest/bust to cover the body).
The decorative wears displayed Obama's portrait
with congratulatory messages.
• In Ghana, the Ashanti people use a decorated
fabric known as kente cloth for ceremonies and
rituals. The kente fabric is beautifully decorated
with various complex designs or patterns carrying
meanings that embrace historic events of famous
person as well as proverbs.
Digolo & Mazrui's (1988, 80) affirm, “The kente
cloth was designed and woven exclusively for the
Ashanti kings and their households.”
Types of clothing materials
There is a big list of fabric and textile materials—from
which fabric decorators sort to work out any planned
design. According to Lang et al. (1989, 10), “the biggest
consideration when selecting fabric for decorating projects
is that you love it. Not like it, but love it. Never, never pick a
fabric just because it's there. Ignore advice from friends or
family.” Surely, clothing materials exist in different forms for
various purposes.
Fiber and fabric
The types of fibers which provide a favourable surface for
decorating textiles are diverse in numbers.
Fabrics.net (2010) explains, “some materials of fabrics are
hard, soft, manufactured or natural” with each type reacting
in a specified way for the time of adding decoration.
Here is how fabrics.net (2010) states its justifications:
164 165
Natural
fibers
Synthetic
fibers
Are acquired from both animals and plants they
include; cotton, animal hair/fur, wool and silk.
Other natural fibers are executed from coconut
seeds, sisal, bast fibre stems, fruit or seed husks,
leaves, tree bark, roots and wood pulp.
Include nylon, acrylic or polyester. Sometimes
synthetic fibers are mixed with natural fibers to
make fabrics. For example, on its own, cotton can
be prone to wrinkling. So it's often blended with
polyester to maintain a neat appearance.
Characteristic of fabrics
Natural fiber fabrics such as cotton and linen are largely
desired during fabric decoration. These fabrics have
distinctive qualities of withstanding wear, pressure, or
damage caused by hard-wearing. Also, they are easy to sew
and to put in shape than synthetics.