After carpet bombing friends and family with the link to this blog yesterday evening, this morning I can announce that ‘Sew Good Namibia’ has made its VERY FIRST SALE. Many thanks go out to Ms Uschi Bauer, a keen birder, who bought a reusable shopping bag made from material with a design of birds on it. I hope to be able to deliver it to her shortly and that she gets many years of use from it.

(2026 update: it was originally intended that ‘Sew Good Namibia’ would operate as an online sales outlet only, and for a while we also marketed our products through an online shopping platform, ‘Padstal Namibia’, that eventually closed down through lack of interest. Even today, with a very active presence on Instagram and Facebook, we receive very few orders through the Internet. Almost all our sales happen through the many stores that retail our goods and a very occasional opportunity to showcase our products at Windhoek markets.)

Today I was excited to swing by Windhoek to collect two large and welcome donations from new supporters. (2026 update: with only 3 interior design stores in Windhoek, we continue to depend on donations from private individuals to supplement the supplies we receive from these generous commercial supporters. This is especially true since thread, webbing for bag handles, buttons and zips are expensive to purchase and we now feature shweshwe, odelela and waxcloth cotton in our designs for the tourism market – fabric that is not received from shops that specialise in furnishing material.)

Mrs Gertrude Piek of the Namibia Bird Club kindly handed over a large quantity of cotton material, some of which may be of use to a group member who is skilled at quilting. She also supplied a lot of wooden beads, which I had been unable to find on sale in any local shops.

The Safari Court Hotel also stepped up and contributed old plain cotton sheets that can be used to line bags, thus ensuring that the ‘Sew Good’ group does not have to purchase this essential item from their income.