Beautiful bags with a story

We want to tell you about some bags in the shop that come with a unique and inspiring story.  They are made by women living in the north east corner of South Africa.Tambani is a quilting and embroidering initiative designed to set a group of disadvantaged rural African women on a path of self-actualization and economic empowerment. These women create embroidered blocks that capture the stories that are part of their oral tradition. The embroidered folk tales, which are sold as applique blocks and used by quilters, knitters and crafters all over the world, are a practical way of preserving the Venda oral tradition.Julie first came across these bags in 2013 and has selected a few beautiful bags from the collection that are available in the shop to be used as small summer purses or smaller project bags. Each bag comes with the folk story that is associated with the artwork on the bag and will give you a rich piece of these womens’ culture to share as your own.You can read the folktale about the hippo who swallowed a little girl (as seen above on the right) and read more about the women who create these embroidered squares on the initiative's website.We hope that you will take a minute to learn more about this amazing initiative and stop by to see the beautiful work that it is creating.