Four days of tatreez in Ramallah
With Rania Barakat · Ramallah, West Bank
Four days working with me and Lina, my apprentice, in Ramallah. You will work on a real piece — not a sample — using a pattern we will choose together before you arrive. You will leave with that piece, finished or nearly finished. The work is slow and the city is complicated. Both things are part of the experience.
- Duration
- 4 days
- Location
- Rania's workshop, Ramallah, West Bank
- Max students
- 3 per cohort
A stitched piece in a real village pattern, started and substantially completed during the four days. A direct relationship with Rania and Lina. A working knowledge of the Ramallah pattern vocabulary.
People who have done the digital course or who already stitch. Also journalists, researchers, and textile professionals. You should be comfortable with the idea that Ramallah is an occupied city and that this shapes everything about daily life there.
4 days in detail
Day one: the pattern — choosing, understanding, and transferring it to cloth
Day two and three: working the piece, with Rania correcting technique and Lina working alongside you
Day four: finishing, framing or hemming, and a visit to the Sunbula cooperative showroom to see the full range of village patterns
Each evening: informal discussion about the tradition, the cooperative, and what makes tatreez different from other embroidery
Rania Barakat
Tatreez — Palestinian cross-stitch · Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine
A cooperative or artisanal ministry has vouched for this artisan. The institution stakes its reputation on the introduction.
I do tatreez — Palestinian cross-stitch. My mother taught me using thread and linen she kept from before I was born. Every village has its own patterns. Mine are from Beit Nuba, the village my grandmother left in 1948. The patterns are how we remember a place we cannot visit. I work on commission pieces and I work on thobs — the traditional dress. I will not make tatreez that is not rooted in a real pattern from a real place. If you want something decorative but invented, I am not the right person. If you want something that means something, send me a message.
In the archive
Rania has documented this tradition in detail in the Amussu Archive. It is free to read.