Leaving children in stitches
Before her students learn a single stitch, embroidery teacher Leora Raikin starts with a pronunciation guide.
“It sounds something like IN-da-belly,” Raikin says, making an exaggerated move and pointing to her stomach. “The kids laugh and imitate me. Then they can’t stop saying ‘IN-da-belly, IN-da-belly.’ ”
So goes the youngsters’ introduction to the Ndebele people of South Africa in Raikin’s African Folklore Embroidery classes. The teacher, a native of Cape Town who lived in Johannesburg before moving to the United States, champions the work of the Ndebele in her summer and after-school programs for children.
“The Ndebele people are so wonderful. They make beautiful embroidery and do exquisite beading,” Raikin says. “When I begin a class with ‘IN-da-belly,’ the students are very curious.”
Raikin was exposed to the work when the Ndebele -- who live in the South African Transvaal located roughly between Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban -- brought their embroidery to cities to sell. Raikin weaves into her lessons background on tribal life and language in South Africa and beyond.
The students learn about the African continent in general and about Ndebele culture in particular as they imagine the animals that they will sculpt out of string and beads.
Raikin finds the children are especially engaged by the freedom that Ndebele-styled art allows -- trees, butterflies and people don’t have to be proportional, and there is no separation between the ground and the sky except what a child can imagine.
Boys seem to be just as excited as the girls. Josh Feldman, 9, picked up the needle after 11-year-old sister Rachel brought her project home from a Girl Scout meeting.
“It just seemed really fun,” Josh says. “I like doing leggers [the chain stitch]. I’m working on a fish and lion.”
Says Susan Feldman, Josh’s mother: “I’ve always done needlework, so I wanted my kids to learn too. It’s great for kids. They learn a craft, improve their eye-hand coordination. African folklore embroidery goes so much faster -- they get a real sense of accomplishment.”
“It looks really cool when it’s done,” Rachel says. “It’s not really hard work. My first one took about a month. Now I’m working a bigger one.”
The young embroiderers begin with patterns -- light tracings on black squares of cloth that can be followed with a needle and the vividly colored threads. Kits provided by Raikin include basic designs that are silk-screened onto black canvas.
From there, students are on their own, often improvising, adding their names or beginning a pattern entirely their own. Raikin notes that many children are smitten by the vivid colors in their work.
And like the Feldman children, many students become so involved in the craft that they infect their siblings, parents and friends with their enthusiasm and knowledge about the tribe’s rich traditions.
“I like African embroidery because it’s so nice and colorful -- I love the colors,” Victoria Harris, 10, wrote on an evaluation form.
Another, 10-year-old Rebecca Shore-Howard, wrote that “it is very relaxing,” and Alexandra Harris described it as a bit addictive: “When you chain stitch [the basic stitch style], you get attached to it like you really want to do it over and over and over again.”
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African Folklore Embroidery
Future classes
Adult class: Tuesday, 7:15 p.m. Call for reservations and location: (818) 999-6094.
Four adult class sessions: City of Calabasas Tennis and Swim Center, 23400 Park Sorrento, Calabasas. Begins Wednesday, 10-11:30 a.m. (818) 222-2782.
Adult sessions, family class: Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 Sepulveda Blvd., L.A. Adult Class: Saturdays; Jan. 14-Feb. 4, 7:30-9 p.m. Family class: Feb. 8, 2-4 p.m. Call for prices and reservations, (310) 440-4653.
Information, including group or after-school classes: (818) 999-
6094 or info@aflembroidery.com. Also: www.aflembroidery.com