SewExotic Adventures - part 2

Back for part 2 of "SewExotic Adventures"

For this installment I will take you to what I shall lovingly call the 'Garment District' of Marrakesh. They have garment districts in LA, NY and Paris, why not Marrakesh?


Shops lining the streets of the 'Garment District'. Between all of the wares hanging from every available space, there really are open doorways that lead in to shops.

My cousin and I in one such shop. Notice the beautiful array of handwoven fabrics that line the walls and hang from the ceiling.

And now a behind the scenes look at the garment district:


In the middle and to the right you can see the big piles of wood that are stacked up waiting to feed the fires that heat the dye pots. On the left are rows and rows of virgin wool that have been spun into yarn, just waiting for their turn in those dye pots.

And when the yarn comes out you get this:

An amazing rainbow of colors -- from indigo blue to saffron yellow and the truest red you have ever seen! And some the color of spices...

Ahhh, can't you just smell them?

Mustn't forget my handsome men!

This is my DH and DS doing their finest Omar Sharif imitations. The fabric, however, is a wonderfully fine cotton that has been dip dyed in the 'Garment District' you saw above. The enthusiastic proprietor will grab any unsuspecting potential customer, a length of brightly colored cloth (in the color most suited to you, of course!) and with flourish and style wrap him/her up like this. Then he will produce a mirror out of thin air and proclaim you to be most Zouin/Zouina (handsome/beautiful) in all the Kingdom of Morocco! This is all done with the perpetual optimism that he WILL be able to separate you from a few of your Dirhams as you realize that you just can't live without that terrific turban! Yes, I do own a few. In blue, as a matter of fact! ;-)

Please ignore the goof balls clowning for the camera...

Instead, try to notice that fab pashmina they are hiding behind. Just another of the amazing textiles Marrakesh has to offer the savvy shopper.

I hope you have enjoyed this installment of SewExotic Adventures as much as I have enjoyed the jaunt down memory lane. Until next time, allah ihennik!

SewExotic Adventures

Why 'SewExotic'? Because I love to sew and I love to travel to exotic places and I really love to combine the two! As in finding great handwoven textiles, incorporating architectural design elements, inspired color combinations, ethnic design, etc. into my creations.

So I thought I would share a few of my favorite photos from my trips to Morocco ~ Who knows maybe you will find some SewExotic Inspiration too!

This was taken at a party we were having in the Riad one night. First let me just say for the record that I hate having my picture taken. Hate it, hate it, hate it! Probably because I will then have to actually see the *usually* embarrassing results that show without mercy every lump, bump, crooked jaw and flaw that I prefer to live in denial about ;-) Now that I've got that out of the way, I actually LOVE this picture!

The Guembri/Sintir is hiding all the really bad bits and as you can see from the look on our faces, we were having a magical time!

Don't you just love their costumes? Speaking of costumes...

And here is one for the boys ;-)


Now that I've got a small sample of the 'ethnic' shown, albeit in the form of Kitschy Costume for the Tacky Tourist, I will move on to some more traditional everyday, about town fun.

But that will have to wait for Part two as blogger insists on putting every pic at the TOP of my post. errrg!