Kente, or strip-weaving, is the predominant form of weaving in Ghana. Long, narrow strips of cloth are woven, and then sewn together to make a wider fabric. Each strip is only about 4″ across, so it takes lots of strips to make a kente!
The magic of kente is in lining up the strips. To get a pattern to appear, each strip must be woven to match PRECISELY with its neighbor…as you will see in the kente below, a good weaver can weave so that the edges are invisible and it looks like it was woven as a single piece.
I studied for five days with a kente weaver and am awed by their ability to match the stripes. Amazing!
You can read more about my experiences in Ghana in the Ghana section of my travel blog.
