First Creation in Rwanda

As my blog is titled a journey in fashion, I thought I should begin including some style posts.  So far I have not had the courage to ask people on the street who are wearing fashionable outfits if I can snap their photo so for now you just get to enjoy my work.  In my first few days in Musanze I thought I would check out the market and see what is available and what the custom design experience is like here.  It was a little bit of a chaotic experience, likely more so because I am muzungu (white).  I began by looking about the many fabric stalls.  When I had decided upon the fabric I liked many people became involved.  As I don’t speak Kinyarwanda many passerbyers like to help and sometimes translate; however, not all of them know English so it often just leads to a big somewhat noisy crowd with many good intentions.  Once I purchased the fabric I went to one of the ladies in the market, many ladies come with their machines and do repairs and custom work right in the market.  I drew the skirt I wanted, a full skirt cut on the bias, with a piece of white chalk on her sewing table.  She then sat me down and cut and sewed the skirt right there.  I was wearing pants that day so I just put the skirt on over top to see if it fit okay.  It did fit well, but she cut an A-line skirt and with the waxed fabric so it sat on me a little like a lamp shade.  I took my lamp shade home and after pondering different options decided box pleats on the side was the best option.  This time I did the measuring and drew a line where I wanted the pleats sewn until.  I then took it to another lady in a different market and had her sew the lines.  Now the skirt works quite well and I am very happy with it.   

For the second creation of my trip I designed and cut the dress; then had one of the girls at the Masion Arbara sew it for me.  The design stage included an afternoon when David and I were colouring together, I would draw different sketches then David would share his expert opinion on which styles he likes best.  The floor length is thanks to him, he much preferred that to a mid calf length.  The sewing stage went smoother than I anticipated, the girl was very good.  I would illustrate where I wanted her to stitch by hand motions and usually the message went across well.  Here are a couple pictures of both creations; turns out taking pictures of oneself is more challenging than I would have thought, please bare with me will I learn the art.