Overview

40 embroidery patterns preserved in the Palestinian diaspora, including six complete sets of patterns to create a full traditional dress (chest, sleeve and panel); Nine family recipes, including tea, coffee and preserves, passed on through generations of Palestinian women from Safad; Detailed traditional Palestinian embroidery technique and rare northern Palestinian Arabic craft 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. Each chapter deconstructs the meaning of selected embroidery design from Wafa's family, preserved by her mother, Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim. 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 and ultimately inspiring her confidence to reclaim her Palestinian identity in the diaspora. Wafa 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 costume, embroidery and meanings it s a resurrection of tatreez embroidery as a modern storytelling tool, one that guided Wafa as she found her way into the world and created a home in the Palestinian diaspora. Mama, tayta, khaltu, umtuu In tatreez dresses they never outgrew It's a legacy I cannot live up to Weaving maroon red and beautiful golden hues Honoring you without the pain of d j vu. As we pull the waste canvas and tweeze We earn our right to be adorned in our tatreez Stitches as expensive as Hermes But invaluable are our fabric stories They will never be lost to the occupation's crisp breeze. - I am Palestinian, by Wafa Ghnaim

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9781986907156

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