Woman’s Wrapper

Traditional Yoruba weavings were made of indigenous cotton spun and dyed by women. The yarns were woven into strips of cloth by men and then stitched together by women to form a completed piece. Once the privilege of the ruling class, today strip-woven cloth is worn by all adult Yoruba for ritual and ceremonial occasions. A distinct feature of Yoruba cloth is the use of holes or slits to create an overall pattern known as aso eleya. In the blue wrapper seen here, the holes were created during the weaving process. A horizontal weft yarn was used to bunch groups of yarns together, creating an openwork pattern. This same yarn then carries over to create adjoining holes, producing floating lines of patterning. A less expensive method of producing holes involves the use of a blunt instrument, as can be seen in the center piece. With the introduction of synthetic metallic yarns known as Lurex in the 1970s, a new vogue in cloths emerged that is clearly Yoruba.