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Indigo cloth, market day, Bandiagara, Mali, June 1998 Photo ©1998 by L. Lee McIntyre |
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Indigo cloth, market day, Bandiagara, Mali, June 1998 Photo ©1998 by L. Lee McIntyre |
Men and women alike grow cotton, although women usually grow it for their own use, and not for sale. Women spin their cotton into thread, and give the thread to a weaver (for a fee) to weave into strips of cotton cloth like these. The strips are dyed blue with indigo, and then sewn edge to edge together to make a full piece of cloth. The woman who grew the cotton then may use this to make clothes for herself, her husband, or her children.