Kuba cloth

You would have thought that with my policy of trying to reduce my collections of fabric and stuff and my room being full of boxes again to sort that I would resist buying anything at present. Wrong! I was browsing Ebay( pricing items I want to sell- honest) when across this wonderful framed African Kuba textile. I got it for a bargain price and as it was in West London, collected it so no postage costs. At some point I will take it out the frame to have a good look and take a decent photo but what really grabbed me in this piece was the huge variety of subtly different patterns and how they are balanced. For instance I really like the triangles round the edge only on 3 sides and the graduating symbols on the 4th. Its currently above my sewing table and I intend to make some sketches from it - part of the process of analysis. I can see it influencing ideas for the 12inch square Journal challengeIts not first time I've bought Kuba textiles - I've had a few pieces from John Gillow. I was reminded that I still have to frame this one. Its the application of patches on top of this piece that lists it above the ordinary

I've also got a few strips of indigo dyed woven strips from Cameroon( also from John Gillow) I've merged scans of some of the strips and have dyed some brownish silk myself with indigo to match . I'm thinking of combining them ,making motifs using my own dyed fabric on a larger scale. The colours of these African fabrics look like the colour palette for February's TIF challenge