Mme Eva is living with her husband and children in a village on the central highlands of Madagascar. Eva is an artisan — but as the majority of the Malagasy people, she is also a farmer.

Step 2. The sisal is wild growing and plenty around the village.

Step 2. The fibers are in the sisal leaves.

Step 3. With hand craft, Eva separates the fibres from the rest of the fleshy sisal leaves.

Step 4. The sisal fibres are rinsed in pure water.

Step 5. Eva twines manually the sisal fibres so that they become yearn. If dying, it is done with dyes complying with the ÖKO-Tex 100 standard.

Step 6. The sisal yearn is crochet to a hat.

Step 7. Mme Eva in the hat she has just finished crochet using the sisal growing around her farm.

Step 8 Sisal hat crochet of naturewhite sisal. A much appreciated hat.

Step 9. Also bags are made of the sisal yarn.

Step 10. Tying is used as technique, an old bucket as form when crafting this bag.

Step 11. Bag tied of sisal using the technique shown in the previous photo.

Also this bag has been crafted using wildgrowing sisal, by artisans in the same village and by tying. However, the tying technique is in this case macramé and the result a flexible shoulder bag. Click on the photo for more information about the bag.

Spa-bag macramé-tied of naturewhite sisal. Click on the photo to find it in La Maison Afrique FAIR TRADE assortment.