Tatreez Tea

Wafa Ghnaim brings traditional Palestinian embroidery to life by resuscitating its roots as a powerful, provocative, and profound storytelling tool used by Palestinian women for hundreds of years to document their stories, observations, and experiences.

- Dozens of embroidery patterns preserved in the Palestinian diaspora, including six complete sets of patterns to create a full traditional dress (chest, sleeve and panel);- Family tea, coffee and quince preserves recipes, passed on through generations of Palestinian women from Safad;- Detailed traditional Palestinian embroidery techniques and rare northern Palestinian Arabic embroidery terminology;- Complete guide to the techniques, meanings and origins of each embroidery thread stitch and color;- Guidance and instructions detailed enough for inexperienced embroiderers, and inspiration ideas for those with needlework experience;- Design histories and meanings of traditional and popular Palestinian embroidery designs in the diaspora, including The Missiles, The Birds, The Snakes, The Ducks, The Scorpions, The Story of Cleopatra, The Gardens, The Tree of Life and The Wheat Harvest.Palestinian tatreez embroidery is a centuries-old folk art, traditionally passed from mother to daughter over a cup of tea. In Tatreez & Tea: Embroidery and Storytelling in the Palestinian Diaspora, Wafa Ghnaim brings traditional Palestinian embroidery to life by resuscitating its roots as a powerful, provocative, and profound storytelling tool used by Palestinian women for hundreds of years to document their stories, observations, and experiences - including those from her mother, Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim. With dozens of design patterns; six complete sets of dress patterns; tea, coffee, and quince recipes; detailed traditional Palestinian embroidery techniques and rare northern Palestinian Arabic tatreez terminology - each design history and meaning is documented and preserved. Wafa guides us through each thread, stitch, and skilled technique used by Palestinian embroiderers, further evolving her voice into a sacred journaling of oral histories passed on by her maternal ancestors. She further unravels the significance of each design by illuminating the experiences of her mother who learned embroidery from her mother and grandmother in mid-century Syria. Tatreez & Tea is far more than a book about traditional Palestinian embroidery - it's a resurrection of tatreez as a source of identity; one that guided Wafa as she created a home in the Palestinian diaspora.Mama, tayta, khaltu, umtuuIn tatreez dresses they never outgrewIt's a legacy I cannot live up toWeaving maroon red and beautiful golden huesHonoring you without the pain of déjà vu.As we pull the waste canvas and tweezeWe earn our right to be adorned in our tatreezStitches as expensive as HermesBut invaluable are our fabric storiesThey will never be lost to the occupation's crisp breeze.- "I am Palestinian," by Wafa Ghnaim

Wafa Ghnaim brings traditional Palestinian embroidery to life by resuscitating its roots as a powerful, provocative, and profound storytelling tool used by Palestinian women for hundreds of years to document their stories, observations, and experiences.

Embroidering Identities: A Century of Palestinian Clothing is the companion piece to the exhibit held at the Oriental Institute from November 11, 2006 to March 25, 2007. It is an overview of the colourful and distinctive clothing of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Palestine. The richly illustrated text discusses the construction of traditional dresses, the materials and dyes employed, and clothing and embroidery in the years following 1948. Garments from many regions are illustrated and described. The volume includes a glossary of Arabic terms and a checklist to the exhibit.

This visually stunning study in the ethnography of Palestinian embroidery motifs is a lasting source inspiration.

A history of Palestinian women of the 20th century told through aspects of popular heritage, focusing on traditional dresses but also including textiles and rug weaving, rural and urban customs, cuisine, and festivities.

The historical and cultural richness of Palestine is reflected visually in its costume and embroidery. Distinguished by boldness of color, richness of pattern, and diversity of style, and combined with great needlework skill, these textiles have long played an important role in Palestinian culture and identity and manifested themselves in every aspect of Palestinian life. Based on over twenty-five years of extensive field research and the culling of museum resources and publications from around the world, this book presents the most exhaustive and up-to-date study of the origins of Palestinian embroidery and costume--from antiquity through medieval Arab textile arts to the present. It documents region by region the evolution of costume and the textile arts in Palestine in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is lavishly illustrated with over 500 full-color photographs from the highly praised Munayyer Collection, which includes a whole range of embroidered textiles from traditional costumes and coin headdresses of Palestinian village women to cloaks and jackets worn by village men to belts, sashes, and footwear. The exquisite colors of the silk stitching on natural linens are a feast for the eye. The sumptuous photography and author's well-informed text greatly enrich our appreciation of Palestinian embroidery and make this book a valuable resource that displays this unique art in all its splendor.