Changs is a small family business who specialize in sourcing indigo fabrics reflecting the family’s Chinese heritage. 

 

Becky recently returned from a trip to China. We were given an insight into the small family business that Changs have been working with for many years who are based in Darleen in the Yunan province of China who produce Shibori fabric using traditional processes. Designs are produced by local women and the technique involves sewing fabric into folds, or tightly wrapping fabric and then dyed until the required indigo colour is achieved. The fabric is then dried on large bamboo frames and the stitches are cut to reveal the beautiful designs.

In Shanghai Changs sources beanpaste indigo fabrics. Beanpaste indigo is produced in a similar manner to silk screen printing but using soya beans, flower and water to make the bean paste. The paste is screened through a stencil and is quite labour intensive as it takes four men to do each block! The fabric is then dried, once again on a bamboo frame and then dyed to the required depth of colour. The dried paste is then picked off to reveal the design of the fabric.  

 

Samples of both indigo and beanpaste fabrics in their various stages of both techniques were passed around. It was interesting to see just how shrunken and distorted the fabrics became and they certainly gave you a good idea of the skills of those individual working on both techniques.  

 

After a short question and answer session it was time for tea and biscuits and of course a bit of retail therapy! Becky had brought along a selection of beautiful fabrics and kits. From the crowd of happy shoppers at Becky’s sale table, I think we can all look forward to some interesting show and tells in the future!  

It certainly was a most interesting and enjoyable talk both from the point of view of the fabrics but we were also given a glimpse into Becky’s travels in China and in particular her culinary experiences! So we learned that Darleen is a beautiful world heritage site well worth a visit should you be travelling to China but we also warned to beware of the challenging food – but who could resist tempting street food treats such as deep fried sparrow, duck stomach for deep fried bees! Fish and chips anyone?