The Sisal Knitting

This is a product that we developed in 2005 to create more work for our group of women that normally make the woven runners and place mats. This product is made from sisal fibre, which is collected by the women from the fleshy leaves of the sisal tree. The sisal fibre is washed and dyed at our workshop before being given back to the women who make the finished product. The women separate the tangled fibre and spin it into a long loose twine using their hand and thigh. They then knit the sisal to make the required size of textile. To create the decorative embroidery they knit a length of sisal chain stitch, which is then hand sewn onto the textile following a template.

The Woven Runner

Our Table runners are made using old batteries and a unique handmade loom. The loom is a simple wooden frame that stands up like a trestle. The batteries have two purposes; First the thread is wound around the battery like a bobbin, secondly when the cotton is threaded into grooves along the top of the frame the batteries hang either side acting as weights and holding the thread in place.

Three pieces of the very fine lutindzi grass are then taken and placed on the loom, the batteries are flicked from one side to the other and the thread binds the grass in place.

Piece by piece, very slowly a length of material is created that eventually becomes a table runner.

When the work is long enough it is removed from the loom and the edges are trimmed with scissors.

The Placemat Plaiting

The Swazi women traditionally use plaited grass to tie down thatching grass on the roofs of their homes. This traditional plait is the basis of our plaited items.

To make a place mat the women start by plaiting a long rope of lutindzi grass. They sit on the ground with their legs straight out and sometimes hold the plait between their toes while they work.

When the rope is long enough (50 meters for a large place mat) they start to coil the rope into a small disc shape, they hold the rope in place by using the spokes from an umbrella. They then take sisal fibre and spin it into twine using their hand and thigh. With a long needle they thread this very strong twine through the coiled plait and stitch the place mat together.

The Stitching Technique

The artisans start with a small bundle of lukhazi reed; they wrap the dyed lutindzi grass around the lukhazi and start to develop a coil-shaped item. As each circular row gets added, it is stitched from the previous row to the next row using an overlapping technique. The basket shape is made free-hand without the use of a mould. It takes many hours to make one basket.

The basket-making women have unique hand-skills and are exceptionally talented in being able to add their own design input to our specific size, quality and colour way requirements.

Our largest baskets can only be made by the most skilled crafts women, and as such are collector's pieces.