The raffia is natural. The dye is purple and green.

Woman’s large embroidered shawl made from greenish black cotton textile, embellished with horizontal rows of red and off-white (or pale yellow) finely embroidered geometric designs worked in silk floss. Rectangular in shape and worn over the head with the wide dimension encircling the wearer; the top two corners are turned back and tacked down to the body of the shawl, where there are large clusters of red broken threads on each side where large ornaments may have once been attached. There is a dense row of bright red, white and blue glass beads and red silk tassels that extends from the edge of one turn-back to the other, at about 32 centimetres from the top of the shawl. The piece has a densely embroidered border and the sides and bottom are edged with a narrow brass(?) chain. The textile is pieced in places.