Tag: wax print

Ankara African Print fabric names and meanings we love

Posted on by Juliet Ajaab

African print fabric often also referred to as Ankara often have very interesting names and meanings. Each cloth comes with a unique piece of history that is worth knowing. We don’t design or select fabric based on their names or meanings but sometimes the influence happens even unconsciously. Below are some of our designs and the names of the the prints we used to make them.

Obaaba

This is a word in Twi, a local language in Ghana. It means a good woman. We absolutely love this print. The pattern’s main symbol kind of looks like something in between a flower and the atom molecule symbol in science. Science and flowers are a weird combination but if you consider science to be the study of nature maybe we could have something here.

In our Zedi top on the right below, the print we used had a pretty feminine twist to it with one side being very floral and the whole thing being a bright pink and turquoise colour. Click here to buy this top!

Fish Scale

Just like the name this cloth if you look carefully you will notice some kind of scaly pattern. The name of this cloth is straight to the point and very visual. These type of names are easy to remember.

Our Fisa collection featured this cloth. Read more about our Fisa collection here if you haven’t already. The collection is a reminder to all of us to enjoy the little things in life. This inspiration came to us during the rough pandemic centered year, 2020. Since fish scales are rough it fits in so perfectly! Shop for this shirt here.

Hibiscus

This is an oldie but goldie. Growing up the hibiscus flower was very popular especially in Tamale in northern Ghana. This cloth also has a visual name like the Fish Tail cloth. Even though it’s not a modern print it has become popular over the years. My guess it’s because of its white background which is quite rare in African wax print cloths.

Our Zedi shirt dress is super fun and girly. It’s certainly pretty like as hibiscus flower and we gave it white raglan sleeves to accentuate the white background in the African print cloth. Click here to buy this dress.

Pepper leaf

The pepper leaf cloth is a very popular African Ankara print cloth. Like most of these prints it comes in a wide range of colours. The cloth has many leaf elements or symbols in different shapes and styles. Even though there’s no symbol of pepper in the cloth my guess it’s called the pepper leaf because of the size of the leaves. Pepper leaves tend to be pretty small.

Our shirt in the pepper leaf print is super simple but fun! We chose a friendly colour for men and chose earth tones. Isn’t it a spicy shirt? Order one here.

The household gravel

The household gravel is an extremely popular African print fabric and one of our favourites! This cloth is so versatile. We have used it for both men and women’s clothes. Like the name implies the print looks like gravel stones of different sizes all lined up nicely.

We love to design with this cloth and I honestly don’t see us stopping anytime soon. You can shop for our sky blue household gravel shirt here. Shop for our top here and our fun dress here.

How to care for African wax print fabric

Posted on by Juliet Ajaab

So you have bought a beautiful African wax print or Ankara dress, top or shirt. It probably did not come with care instructions so how do you care for it? How do you wash and dry it? Can you bleach it? Is it dry clean only? Don’t worry too much, we have all the answers. You can learn more about African print fabric here.

Photo Credit – Voice of Nigeria

African wax print fabric is often printed on cotton fabric. This automatically means that caring for it is not going to break your bank. You can put your dry cleaning money away, or better yet spend it at our shop here! When it comes for caring for your wax print garment we will split it into three parts. That is washing, drying and ironing. Let’s start with washing, shall we?

Washing African wax print garments

Before you wash your beautiful bright garment test to see if the colour runs so you wash it with similar colours or separately. This is not necessary for quality fabric but it’s always best to keep it safe. Contrary to popular belief African wax print fabric can be washed with a washing machine. Don’t mind people who say otherwise. It is true that hand washing is a good idea but only because this way you can show more love to your garments and not over wash them. 

For machine washing keep the water cool and set the machine to a gentle wash setting. Remember that Ankara fabric is more of a t-shirt type of cotton than a pair of jeans. Always remember to use a very mild detergent when washing. Harsh detergents cause the fabric to fade a lot quicker over time. African print fabric is made using wax and soaps that are loaded with chemicals can easily cause the fabric to lose its colour so using bleach is an absolute no no! Don’t be that guy, use mild soap. 

Photo Credit – zegist.com

Drying your Ankara clothing

When the washing is done always rinse your garments thoroughly with clean water to get all the soap out. You can dry by hand on a line or by machine as well. A spin dry will never damage your fabric neither will tumble drying. The old fashion way of drying your garment on the line in the sun is just fine too. The only thing to note here is to avoid keeping clothes on the line in the sun for too long. The sun can be very harsh. Most African print garments will dry within 5 hours on a sunny day. 

Ironing African wax print garments

Ironing is the easiest part when it comes to caring for African print clothing. No special settings are needed. The cotton fabric takes heat pretty well because it is a natural fibre. With a little bit of steam your ironing will be done in no time! If your garment has applique, rhinestones or beads ironing can be a bit tricky but for normal clothing it’s a walk in the park. Creases smoothen out pretty easily and so you can comfortably do without fabric spray. Having a steam iron is a plus though. Most African print clothes can not easily be straightened with just a regular steamer so ironing is recommended. 

So there you have it, how to care for your African wax print or ankara clothes. We have heard some stories about this fabric lasting longer when salt is used in the water when washing garments? We can’t really tell how true this is though. Have you tried this before? What was the result? We would love to know! To shop at our store please click here!