Hello beautiful people
Gele is an essential part of a traditional outfit, it makes the wearer look big, bold and beautiful, it brings out the culture and tells the ethic group one belongs to. There are some specific ones for a certain set of ethnic group, that once you see the color or color combinations, you can easily tell the ethic group they belong to, there are also some common ones, which are sold in the market, they are of different colors and designs, for a wedding or other ceremonial functions, some set of people can decide to choose a particular color for family and friends to grace the occasion just in form of uniform for them to be unique, the weaving can also be given as a contract to those that specializes in the making of the ofi as it is popularly called, it comes in rolls and in each roll, we have eight woven ofi.
The eight is a pack of it which is for couples, for women, we have 4 pieces for the one tied to the waist or across the shoulder, 4 pieces for head gear, the one stylishly tied to the head and 1 for men, which is used to make a cap just as seen below for this couple.
For occasion, women only get 3 pieces for head gear and this is what is usually sold for family and friends for an event.
For a wedding, I was given 12 pieces of the ofi to join together for 4 people, which means each person will have 3 pieces sewn together for head gear, there is a specific way of joining the ofi together, at first, in my first attempt, I didn't understand this, all I did was just to sew it together as I usually sew fabric but I was corrected by a friend that that was not how to join it, so she taught me how to join it, we joining, you have to place the two edges on each other and sew on it just as seen below.
This is how the 3 pieces will be joined together to make a complete head gear.
After being completed, it is then style on the head to your desired design and style. Just as simple as this.
