
In my last post you caught a glimpse of the amazing work and skill that goes in to producing the yarns used in the cloth woven at Sabahar. Now it’s time to visit the dyers and the warpers… two more steps necessary to bring these amazing Ethiopian textiles to life. Last year Kathy was able to construct two new buildings. One was for the dyers and finishers and the other was a beautiful modern shop where all these beautiful textiles are displayed for the appreciative customers of Sabahar. The dying studio is fabulous. It has big washing spaces outside where the water is treated and recycled for watering the gardens. They have a fancy dye machine that is used for skeins of mill spun 40/2 cotton warp that is used as a base warp for many of the fabrics. All of the handspun cotton and silk are dyed in pots just like we do… but they just do so much of it. |
Just taking my skeins for a walk Skeins scoured and ready to dye
Just taking my skeins for a walk… all scoured and ready to dye…

Sabahar’s new dye and finishing building, check out the great sinks out front…
Large mechanical dye machine Smaller dye machines
They have one large mechanical dye machine… and several smaller dye machines…
Water treatment system Amaryllis flower
All dye water is treated in a simple treatment system and the water is used in the gardens…
Dyed skeins on a line More dyed skeins on a line
Everyday the lines are hung with different colours. These are skeins of handspun cotton and silk |
The Warpers
After the yarns are dyed warping is next. I always say that there are a dozen ways to do something, well now I believe there are 13 :)! Before I went to Ethiopia the first time in 2016 I could never have imagined this type of warping. Or that it was possible to make such long warps with such simple equipment and with so many threads used in a single bout. Imagine warping with 30 threads at a time!

Thirty cones of 40/2 cotton are being used in this warp…
A warping station Another view of a warping station
There are several warping stations… all pretty much the same. Nails along rough wood. That’s it!
A wound warp looking all cocoon like The cross is at the end of the warp
Once the warp is made it is wound into something that resembles a giant cocoon… rather fitting really as they are surrounded by cocooning silk worms. It starts just like we start a ball of yarn by hand they just don’t make it round. And the cross is at the end. |
The 40/2 cotton is pretty darn fine but the 40/1 cotton is so fine I could barely see it and it is… yes a single strand. This only comes from the mill in skeins. They load up the skeins onto a wagumba which is a giant swift. Thirty skeins are loaded on, thirty individual ends are found and then the warper carries the wagumba up and down the warping board while he is making his warp. |
A giant warp The giant swift, or wagumba

Another warp view Close-up warp view

This is what a 70 yard warp looks like on it’s way to the loom where it will be transformed into 40 towels.

And then they have one trusty metal warping mill which I felt right at home with. Ermias and Aiyelle made a new warp for us to use in the Research and Development Department.
Next blog post
Part three: The Weavers of Sabahar and their brand spanking new R&D dept.