Embroidery with Arab prints
Syria, Culture, 12/8/1997

Arab women know several techniques of embroidery, both simple and complicated, which they use and master in their work. An embroidery technique is not just connected with an area of its distribution but also with the type of products it is meant to be used on, and the time required to make it.

The embroidery techniques used by the women and the design and arrangement of patterns are also determined to a considerable extent by the structure of the weave and the cut of the garment. These only allow certain forms of patterns to be used and this is also the case with weaving, knotting, knitting and crocheting.

The quality of materials (weave, thread, yarn, heads), the tools (needles, hooks, knitting, loom) and the skill determine the value of the final product. Embroidery yarns are usually silk, more rarely cotton and occasionally wool.

Since the 1930's a very fine cotton thread has been sold in the Near East by the French firms which used to buy it from Syria. The most frequently used types of stitch in Syrian embroidery are fine cross-stitch, running stitch, chain stitch and others. The famous dresses of the Syrian districts of Daraa and Sweida are usually decorated with varied embroidery techniques by cotton bars in various colors.

Previous Stories:
  Efforts to end child labor in Syria   (12/5/1997)
  Primitive but beautiful   (12/2/1997)
  Chinese exhibition in Dara'a   (10/23/1997)

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