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Ramallah Shawl Shawl or veil made of two joined panels of linen and embroidered in red and green coiled silk using a counted cross stitch. The center field is decorated in a grid scheme with European motifs of rooster, hens, urns and flowers. The two long edges have a border containing stylized flowers also in European style while the two ends are covered with embroidery of almost solid blocks in the “tall palm” pattern, a distinctive characteristic of Ramallah dresses. A dikkeh band with silk fringe is attached at each end.

Palestinian Blouse, c. 19th Century

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cap (taqiyeh) Village woman's cap (taqiyeh) made of cream coloured cotton, embroidered with cross-stitch in yellow, blue, red, green and black cotton thread, and with close-herringbone stitch along the rim. It has five brass imitation coins and two black ties attached to the rim

via The British Museum. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

dress (thob) Village woman's dress (thob) with narrow sleeves made of indigo dyed cotton and linen, black coloured cotton and blue/purplish coloured cotton and embroidered on the chest panel (qabeh) side panels (banayeq) sleeves (kmam) and back of skirt with cross-stitch in shades of peach and pink floss silk thread. The yoke is made of a peach coloured satin silk and edged where it meets the chest panel, like the back hem with zigzag applique (tishrim). The cuffs are made of machine embroidered satin silk and indigo dyed cotton. The side panels are also embroidered with connecting stitch (manajel) and hem is reinforced with fishbone stitch. The dress has been made up of several recycled pieces; it is well worn, darned and patched with embroidered patches in several places.

Curator's comments Text from Weir 1989:122:  The embroidery is, unusually, entirely in red. Text from Weir 2006:53: Dress 'thob', South-west costal plain, late 19th or early 20th Century. the fabric of indigo-blue cotton has cross stitch embroidery in orangery-red silk. The festive dresses of the villages near Gaza were notable for the huge chevrons and 'cypress tree' motifs with which they were decorated.

via The British Museum. © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Palestinian Girl’s Dress Until they were married, Palestinian girls would traditionally wear simple clothes with little embroidery. From the age of 12, they would begin learning the art of embroidery to create the clothing they would wear once they are married. This particular piece is a “Jillayeh” and the style indicates it is from Bethlehem area. The tapered sleeves, ever so difficult to wear while performing field or house chores, indicate the wearer’s leisure and wealth. The dress is decorated with embroidery and appliqué. The embroidery of vines, rosettes, and other nature motifs is quite typical. Natural images are used to encourage positivity and connection to the land. Colors used also have meaning- shades of red symbolize happiness, good luck, and protection, and green is the color of paradise. The ground material of this dress is locally woven striped cotton, and the applique is done with Syrian silk, velvet, and cotton. The silk embroidery uses different techniques such as couching, cross stitch, and whip stitch.

via Sarajo.com

Ramallah Shawl Southern Palestinian shawls, with Ramallah shawls being the prime example, are distinct from other Palestinian shawls. They are embroidered on white or natural linen, they use zigzag called tall palm pattern as a design element, and they use a scheme of narrow long borders and wide short border. The central field contains a grid where the decorating motifs are placed. Early shawls are more sparse while later shawls incorporate European design elements such as birds and flowers along the traditional Islamic elements. Coiled polychrome silk thread embroidered in cross stitch, worked on two linen panels sewn together lengthwise.

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Palestinian Ramallah Dress Ramallah dress dating to the 1930s. Palestinian embroideries flourished during that period due to better accessibility to European materials and Eastern European Jewish stitching techniques. A lot of the work was produced in the town of Beit Dajan and this dress probably originated there. The two vertical rows at the front and the heavy block of embroidery at bottom back are typical Ramallah while the yoke is Bethlehem designed. It was quite common to combine design of different towns and also to replace yokes when worn. Tapered sleeves and a patch covering a front opening to accomodate pregnancy. Cross stitch silk embroidery on cotton ground.

via Sarajo.com