Flo-Jo Boutique

Thursday, 3 October 2013

Day of the dead!

We know it's not for another month but this celebration of our ancestors is dear to us so we really wanted to showcase our lovely fabrics in plenty of time for all our customers to get creative.
For anyone who's not familiar with the festival he's a bit of back knowledge...

Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it is a national holiday, and all banks are closed. The celebration takes place on November 1 and 2, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. They also leave possessions of the deceased.
Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl. The holiday has spread throughout the world: In Brazil, Dia de Finados is a public holiday that many Brazilians celebrate by visiting cemeteries and churches. In Spain, there are festivals and parades, and, at the end of the day, people gather at cemeteries and pray for their dead loved ones. Similar observances occur elsewhere in Europe, and similarly themed celebrations appear in manyAsian and African cultures.

In some parts of the country (especially the cities, where in recent years other customs have been displaced), children in costumes roam the streets, knocking on people's doors for a calaverita, a small gift of candies or money; they also ask passersby for it. This relatively recent custom is similar to that of Halloween's trick-or-treating.

Some people believe possessing Day of the Dead items can bring good luck. Many people get tattoos or have dolls of the dead to carry with them. They also clean their houses and prepare the favorite dishes of their deceased loved ones to place upon their altar or ofrenda.

So we've decided to create a Day of the Dead window display and within this Erika and I have placed pictures of some of our deceased family members. There's something special about having their photos sat in our window here in our shop with us.

Monday, 30 September 2013

New organic Cotton and Cotton Bamboo mix from India.

We've found a new supplier for ORGANIC cotton and cotton/bamboo mix prints.

The fact that the prints are so pretty and inspired from a book of 1920's prints would have been enough for us but to find out that we bought them from a wonderful British company who's work in India is supporting some of the worlds poorest communities and really making a difference to their lives and their surrounding environment is even better news!

They are copies of 1920's prints that they found in an old book.

Dress weight, or maybe for patchwork and craft, made from slub organic cotton warp and bamboo weft.

Hand printed, so the print will have some variations.

They are really special, and we can't wait to make ourselves a dress each for work.

We think they will look great made into a classic tea dress.

Genesh is their partner in India. This is Genesh's Aunty and her grandchildren. She winds the warp thread here for her son to weave for us. The orders we give them enables them to avoid poverty.

These new 1920's design fabrics we have are a bamboo mix. Bamboo is a sustainable product fast growing and makes the cotton feel really soft and hang beautifully.

Bamboo textiles are cloth, yarn, and clothing made out of bamboo fibres. While historically used only for structural elements, such as bustles and the ribs of corsets, in recent years a range of technologies have been developed allowing bamboo fibre to be used in a wide range of textile and fashion applications. Modern bamboo clothing is clothing made from either 100% bamboo yarn or a blend of bamboo and cotton yarn. The bamboo yarn can also be blended with other textile fibres such as hemp or even spandex.

Wednesday, 18 September 2013

A little bit about one of our ORGANIC cotton suppliers....

Organic Cotton

The organic cotton comes from a non GM source and is supplied by Agrocel. One of their partners is Traidcraft, the largest UK fairtrade organisation.

The cotton is grown in northern India.

Our cotton is not sprayed with toxic chemicals. Instead, weeding is done by hand and pests are controlled biologically (by encouraging other insects to control the pests). Please see the excellent PAN site (Pesticide Action Network).

Fair Trade Cotton

This means that the people who grow cotton get a fair guaranteed wage and that their health and welfare is supported. They subscribe to the Fair Trade policy defined by IFAT (The International Fair Trade Association).

The hand loom cottons are woven and safely dyed using GOTS approved non azo dyes and are woven by a charity-run project involving about 250 workers using hand looms or small power looms.

Below; one of the weavers in K.V. Kuppam, a village in Tamil Nadu state, South India, 120 miles from Chennai (Madras). The area has long been a centre for cotton handloom weaving.

The middle picture is the cotton being dryed.

We have just bought 5 new designs of organic cotton. We're really excited by the work and hope you will like them too.