Three Bags Full and Two Dresses

For some time I've been meaning to clean the cushion covers of 4 Kapok filled cushions I purchased a long while ago. I finally got around to it today. Kapok is seed hair fibre from a Kapok tree and looks and feels very interesting.

The job was a little more difficult and time consuming than I bargained for but thankfully it is all done now.

I had four cushions to open and empty of it's Kapok contents. Kapok grows on trees and has a cotton like consistency. It is rather soft and fluffy and this made the work of removing it a bit of a challenge.
You can read more about Kapok here.

Particles of kapok dust flew all over the place and got on the freshly vacuumed carpet. My cousin who is visiting and who had vacuumed was not so happy with me but the job had to be done. After a few years of wear the cushions were becoming flattened and that was the other reason I needed to open them. After refilling the cushions I was left with three. I need to buy more Kapok to fill up the remaining pillow.

I've left one cushion open so you can see a glimpse of the kapok. I've basted the other two cushions to ready them for stitching.  Given the cushions were now filled to the brim, it was challenging to stitch them closed but I managed. No need to be perfect as they will likely go into cushion covers.

Another sewing project today was to sew over the seams of two dresses I had made for mom while I was in Kenya recently. Before I left I asked her if she wanted anything from Africa and she said she would like a dress.  So I got her two of them as they were such pretty colours and her birthday is coming up at the end of the summer. I will deliver them both to her tomorrow.  She knows they are coming and she is rather excited about getting them.

Isn't this a pretty colour green? I almost kept this fabric for a dress of my own. I had big pockets placed in front of both dresses so that when mom sits in her wheelchair she can still reach into her pockets without any problem.

This red colour is beautiful. Mom will love it. The red pockets are not visible against the deep red background of the dress.

Now mom will feel that she can experience a taste of Kenyan culture. Though I'm not fully sure if this patterned fabric is really African, my friend there said it looked like some fabric they call a star pattern. I hope he is right.

This same friend teaches me a lot about Kenyan culture and about his own Kalenjin culture. I learn something new all the time. Recently on his own blog I learned about Kalenjin burial customs when he lost his uncle whom he called elder father because he was the eldest male sibling of his father.  Please read more about it here .