ASSESSMENT OF EMBROIDERY PRODUCTION ON TEXTILE GARMENTS FROM SELECTED CITIES IN SOUTH-WESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

This thesis is an assessment of embroidery production on textile garments from selected cities in South-Western Nigeria. Relevant literatures to the study were reviewed and the instruments used to collect data were Questionnaire and oral interview. Five hundred and fifty questionnaires were distributed to the sampled population which included hand and machine embroidered designs. Five hundred (500) were returned and analysed using statistical packages for social sciences. Ten variables were drawn for type A to determine the demographic information of respondents, fourteen variables for type B which were for the producers of both hand and machine embroiderers and eight variables for type C which were the consumers of embroidery designs. Data gathered were analysed using descriptive statistical tools such as frequency, mean, mode and percentage. Percentage frequency distribution tables were used to assess the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents. The data collected was analysed through the use of likert scale model, estimating the mean weight scores and evaluation was based on frequency percentages of favourable responses from respondents. After analysis of the data, it was revealed that both genders engaged in embroidery production in the study areas and that they were within the active working age of 18-55 years, 66% of the respondents had tertiary education (BSc./HND) and majority of the embroiderers were entrepreneurs. This calls for a policy formulation by the government to offer financial support. With a low apprentice percentage of 13% for the respondents, this confirms past research results which showed that Youth do not show interest in learning crafts and handiwork. Machine embroiderers were the largest in terms of population with a percentage of 99% while hand embroiderers were relatively few at just 21%. The view of hand embroidery was found to be subjective where motifs and designs were chosen based on fashion trends and not on the merit of the hand embroidery craft. The designs and motifs had distinct names and were generally inspired from utilitarian objects based on human, animals, reptiles and plants from life. The invention of machine-tailored embroidery has made it possible to produce a wide range of designs; however, it has affected the art of hand crafted embroidery because it is laborious, painstaking and time consuming. This has also led to a decline in handcrafted patronage as consumers tend to favour machine-embroidered designs. It is recommended that government and non-governmental organizations such as traditional rulers and influential individuals in the society to support artists so that the quality of their work can improve.