African Kanga
 

My niece has returned from a Mission trip to Tanzania. She has asked me to make her Kanga (wrap) into a quilt. This is the information I have about the fabric from the salvage.
21st CENTRUY TEXTILE LTD. (POLYTEX) MONOGORA, MALIYA ASANTE, TANZANIA D.No.2817

I have her permission to cut it up. I really hope someone here can help me. Here are my questions.
How can I determine the fiber content? or is that improtant?
I want to maintain an African design. American patchwork does not seem right. Does anyone have an idea for a pattern?
Is there a color you would add?
Thanks so much for your help. I will try to post a picture.

This is a beautiful fabric. I think a zig zag quilt done with a solid black and another fabric that either picks up the green leaves or the turquoise flowers (or possibly both colors!) would look beautiful and still keep an African theme (there are lots of zigzag designs in African art and textiles). I wouldn't be so concerned about content but you can do a burn test. take a small piece and catch it on fire. If it ashes it is 100% cotton. If it melts and forms a hard blob it is a synthetic or blend of some sort.

Edited to add a strippy quilt would look beautiful with this fabric too. Just cut wide strips of your focus fabric and alternate with a few compliment fabrics. This style would better maintain the integrity of the focus fabric design.

what beautiful fabric! i like feline's ideas. but my first thought was that it would make a terrific stack and whack.

I too thought og st and wck.
then thought of a split rail with accent pickup colors, lime,blk and aqua.

How neat!! Choosing a design to showcase the print is the hard part, I agree with you!!!:shock:

Would you believe I am currently working on TWO west African lapas quilts (the yardage is called lapas, I understand) for a couple of young ladies who served as your friend did?!!

I quilts will be full size, double-sided, with large strip designs on both sides because these young ladies brought me 14 different fabrics each.:eek: I will make four different designs and put two in each quilt.

Here are some of the fabrics and some of the designs we will use.

Jan in VA

If I were entrusted with that gorgeous fabric, I would do some research before cutting. Here's a couple of places to start:

1. http://www.denacrain.com/blog/tutorials/african-quilt/

2. Google African Quilt. Many sights come up with information and photos.

3. Type African Quilt into Google images.

Looking forward to seeing what you decide. What fun!!!

I'm glad my girls didn't care to have an "African" quilt, they just wanted to showcase the prints they loved.

Jan in VA

I would keep the fabric as a whole, maybe cut I to size, and then add two borders of colors from the fabric - 2" turquoise 3" green and bind it with black on beige fabric. If you need to cut the fabric to size I would use the original fabric for binding. Sometimes less is more and to me this could be one of those times. That being said, my taste is odd to say the least, but that fabric is gorgeous and I understand your hesitation. Good luck and please post pictures so that we can enjoy your masterpiece. I am sure it will be lovely.

Thank you for you quick responses. I'm getting excited to start, but I'm taking KarenK's advice and giving myself time to think it through. Thanks again.

I'm a few years behind you but my daughter has also returned from a mission trip to Tanzania and has asked me to create a quilt for her from one of the khangas she brought back. The khanga has a center panel of royal blue with small flowers that is bordered on all 4 sides. I was planning to cut and miter the borders to create vertical stripes on the quilt and add horizontal strips between each border with the royal blue fabric and other purchased contrasting materials. I am so thrilled to see this thread (and to find this board!) and will look through the suggestions to see if I can find other ideas. I am curious if anyone has had trouble mixing the khanga with other fabrics when it comes to sewing it or caring for the quilt?