Kuba Skirt #6A

Old Kuba skirt made using tie-dye technique, with pieced checker-board border
The Kuba people of Zaire weave a wide variety of cloth made from rafia, a natural fiber from palm leaves. The material is stripped into very fine threads, soaked and pounded to make them flexible, and dyed in vegetal or mineral pigments to create a variety of colors. The Kuba employ a variety of weaving and decoration techniques. This skirt uses tie-dye to achieve the desired geometric designs. The borders are made by sewing square pieces of rafia cloth. The five bright red pieces are cotton cloth.

This old Kuba skirt is woven of natural rafia fiber, and is believed to date from before 1960. I bought it from a large collection of garments collected by a man who lived in Zaire in the 1980s.

Dimensions are about 29-30 inches wide and 122 inches long. It was made from five approximately square pieces of equal size, joined at the edges using natural rafia thread. Each panel has a different bold tie-dye pattern of natural dyes. The square pieces in the border are also rafia cloth, except for the five bright red pieces in the end border -- these are commercial cotton cloth.

Overall condition is Very Good, with no large flaws apparent, with only some light wear and slight soil possible. With the photos below, the first two photos are of the different halves of the garment, the final photo a close-up showing the weaving technique.