Links, Sewing and Fashion History

Let’s celebrate Black History Month with a look at traditional African clothing #BlackHistory #AfricanCulture

In a dining room, with a large china hutch behind them, we see a male and female African or African American doll couple standing in peaceful ambiance. They wear clothing in bright African prints and pretty solids. The male doll (a Texas A and M Ken doll) wears a green geometric print shirt with a yellow and green and black African print hat. The deep yellow of his trousers match the yellow in his hat. The female doll, which is a "Photographer" doll made by Lammily LLC, wears a red shiny skirt with a red felt shirt, and an African print yellow and green and red and black poncho over the top. Her poncho is trimmed in yellow fringe. Behind them on the wall is a famous painting of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral. Their dining room furniture is made of tan wicker.

In years past, I’ve done different blog posts on various topics related to Black History Month in February,  but this is the first time I’ve begun the celebration by delving into the traditional clothing of various African nations.

It was really fun to learn all about the traditional clothing of  African countries, regions, and tribes, but we only have so many blog posts in February… So I’ve narrowed it down to four traditional clothing styles that I want to cover.

"Hello February" is surrounded by various images indicating that the month of February is related to African American history. There are silhouettes of a man and woman on a purple background, hands holding up an image of the continent of Africa, and a calendar. Beneath the "Hello February" text, it explains that in America, we celebrate Black History Month in February.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

I’m going to post a little snippet of information about traditional African clothes once a week throughout the month of February. Some of these blog posts are quite long, but with each, I’ve spent hours doing extensive research, and I want to share what I’ve learned.

Please don’t navigate away from my website, just because the blog posts are long. I want to hear your feedback and comments after you’ve read about each item of clothing, so please read them and form opinions of your own.

I’ll give you plenty of links to help you find more information, if you’re interested in learning more about each style of clothing.

Watch for the Black History Month thumbnail below. I will be using that thumbnail for each of the four different styles of traditional clothing I’ll cover in February.

The thumbnail shows four different styles of traditional African clothing. The text above says, "Celebrate Black History Month with traditional African fashions." The text below shows the at symbol followed by Chelly Wood dot com.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

I tried to focus my research on the nations that surround the area known as West Central Africa, mainly because this is where many Americans of African heritage can trace their roots to. I’m an American citizen, and as part of this celebration of the rich history of African Americans, I wanted to take a good look at the traditional clothing that people from these countries would have worn and/or still wear today.

Having done, as I’ve said, many hours of research, I will also hypothesize about how some of these traditional African clothing styles have impacted American fashion styles throughout history, and even today. I hope you enjoy the work I’ve put into this project, and I also hope I don’t offend anyone with my fashion hypotheses.

A kaftan or possibly a boubou is laid out on a flat surface, and someone has taken a close-up photo of the embroidery work, which uses blue, brown and black embroidery floss to make the patterns on the front of the garment, near the neck opening. Two blue tassels hang down either side of the rectangle of embroidery.
Please visit ChellyWood.com for free printable PDF sewing patterns and tutorial videos for making doll clothes to fit dolls of many shapes and all different sizes.

It has given me a lot to think about, and truthfully, I started this research, at least in part, because I thought it might inspire me to design some traditional African clothing for some of my dolls, but now that I look back on the study I’ve done, it has become a much bigger inspiration than I could have ever imagined.

I’m going to end today’s blog post by directing you to the jumping-off point, where I first began my research. It’s a website called (to nobody’s surprise at all) Africa.com. It lists all 54 of the nations of modern-day Africa, and it offers a link to further your exploration into each one.

This image of a turquoise blue sewing needle pulling purple thread away from a line of cross-stitching is used as a divider between sections of a blog post.

If you enjoyed this blog post, and you’d like to see my videos, you might want to navigate over to my YouTube channel, ChellyWood1 to look through my playlists.

If you would like to make a donation to this free doll clothes pattern website, please click here. There’s also a “Donate” button in the main menu.

For anyone who would like to expand their dolls’ wardrobes, you should really check out my “How to Alter Doll Clothes Patterns” course and my “Design Your Own Doll Pants Patterns from Scratch” classes on the Creative Spark online learning platform. Here’s my bio page on their website, where you can learn more.

This image shows four rows of artist's renderings of doll clothing items. The top row shows four different styles of pants. The second row shows four different styles of shirts. The third row shows four different styles of skirts. The fourth row shows four different styles of dresses, with skirts in long, short, and mid-length styles. The text reads at the top, "Classes in Doll Clothing Design" followed by this paragraph: "Have you ever wished you could create patterns of your own? Click on the links to Chelly's online courses below, to learn more about her paid courses in doll clothing pattern design techniques."

For any class on Creative Spark, you don’t have to follow a schedule. Just sign up when you’re ready.

It’s a one-time fee for the course, and there’s no specific time limit to finish your course. You can just take your time and learn at the pace that suits you. So go check out my paid courses on Creative Spark, using this link.

As always, feel free to pin, like, or tweet about my free patterns and tutorials.

To read more about my free sewing patterns and tutorials, please visit the “Helpful Tips” page.

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*Please note: when you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include Amazon, JoAnn Fabric, Etsy, and the eBay Partner Network. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. To learn more about how my website uses affiliate marketing, please visit the website’s Privacy Policy page.

Chelly Wood and the ChellyWood.com website are not affiliated with any of the doll or toy companies mentioned in this blog post, but Chelly enjoys designing her doll clothes to fit a variety of dolls. To learn more about the doll companies mentioned in today’s post, please visit the doll or toy company’s website.

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