We were 100% intending to buy our dresses but two of Jill's besties Coby & Amanda, who live in Tanzania, reached out saying how they wanted to help us with this one to support the 101 Adventures for Jill fundraising efforts. As Amanda put it in one of her early messages to the group chat "I love following your 101 adventures, I love Kitenge shopping, and I love Jill. This will be fun. Very happy to help."
This offer was appreciated because I for one knew very little about Kitenge, in fact I even had to ask them how to pronounce the word kitenge (Coby advised it's pronounced kee-tang-gay by the way). So not only were we getting their expertise, but they would also be sourcing our fabric locally and getting our dresses made from the same place Jill got her outfits made. Below is the lovely Coby with Jill in some custom made Kitenge.
And below is the lovely Amanda with Jill in some matching kitenge tops which were made for a bijaji pub crawl where they won best team outfit!
Coby & Amanda soon got to work and asked us for our colour preferences, dress styles and measurements. Then they set off to the market and sent through so many different fabric choices for us to choose from. I think the three of us were a little overwhelmed picking as there were so many beautiful options. We all chose our fabric for different reasons. My main request was to have some aspect of blue in it to match my necklace that Jill got me for my 21st.
The ladies sent the dresses to Australia with Jill's friend Maggie, and we did not receive them until two nights before Jill's birthday, so we were a bit nervous in regard to sizing. But we need not have worried - the dresses were perfect in size, colour and style. In fact, they exceeded our expectations. Having these made from where Jill lived and made from the same tailor, made wearing these dresses even more special. I love too how we all went for such different fabrics and styles. I will be eternally grateful for Coby & Amanda's help in getting these made for us and also grateful to Jill's friend Maggie for bringing them to Australia on her recent trip. The dress is something I will keep and treasure forever. Asante Coby & Amanda.
For anyone interested - below is Saba Collections Instagram page who made our dresses:
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