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Bethlehem Malak Dress
The ear ly
Bethlehem bridal Malak dress was
made of silk and linen fabric with embroidered red, orange or yellow and
green taffeta on the sleeves and side panels. The chest, sleeves, cuffs and side
panels of the dress are embroidered
in
couching stitch (tahriri) using silver,
gold and silk cords. On the sleeves, the center panel is usually red with yellow
panel on each side, while on the dress side panel, the center panel is green with a red
panel on each side.
The chest panel is densely couched with patterns mainly in
gold cord that completely obscures the background material.
The Bethlehem embroidery was developed in Bethlehem
and the surrounding villages of Beit Sahur and Beit Jala. It is unique to these villages and
different from the predominant cross-stitch embroidery
used in the other
regions of Palestine.
Malak Ikhdari
Thob Malak
The fabric of the Bethlehem dress (malak or Ikhdari)
was woven locally or in other parts of Palestine. Being a ma rket center for the
surrounding villages, the Bethlehem
couching embroidery was adopted on the Jerusalem area dresses, usually made of silk
fabric imported from Syria or
velvet fabric imported from Europe or produced locally.
Eventually, the Bethlehem couching embroidery became
in demand to add to cross-stitched dresses of other regions of Palestine,
namely, Ramallah, Hebron and the Jaffa
and Lydda regions. Women of other villages in the Jaffa and Lydda
regions later produced imitation of the Bethlehem embroidery known as rasheq.
Bethlehem daily
dress
Headdress (Shatweh)

The B ethlehem
headdress, Shatweh, whose front is covered with rows of coins, beads and
coral was worn by married women of the three
neighboring villages, Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahur, . Unmarried women wore instead, a small circular embroidered cap (taqiyyeh) similar
to the one worn in Jerusalem. Nineteenth century shatwehs were low and wide in shape, sparsely embroidered, and
with few silver coins. In the 1920s, shatwehs became narrower but higher.
Bethlehem chest piece
Shatw ehs
were made in stages: first, the broadcloth was embroidered, then it was padded
and lined , then stuffed, and finally the coins, beads and corals were attached to the
front. The embroidery on the sides of the shatweh are usually in herringbone and gold thread couching, yet the ear
pieces and the padded roll on the crown are embroidered in cross-stitch. The chin chain (iznaq) worn
with the shatweh can have five or seven ch ains (sab' irwah) with a
floral or star shaped ornament, or a cross for Christian women.
Veil
Nineteenth century veil
In the nineteenth
century, a rare and very festive veil was worn in Bethlehem. It was made of two
pieces of very fine linen fabric joined lengthways, with delicate embroidery
in stem stitch and broken running stitch forming a narrow border on all four sides of the veil with matching
multi colored fringe at both ends. A more simpler shawl worn by Bethlehem women was the Shambar.
Jacket (Taqsireh)
The fe stive
Bethlehem Taqsireh was the most beautiful jacket worn in Palestine. The
earlier jackets were made of woolen broadcloth (jukh) in red, blue,
green or brown. The embroidery was in couching stitch using
silk metal (qasab) thread. In the mid 1920s, velvet
replaced the broadcloth and jackets were made in navy blue or purple colors velvet. The taqsireh had short
sleeves through which the pointed sleeves of the Malak dress were pulled.
Felt (Jukh)
Taqsireh

Velvet Taqsireh
Wool Bisht
For every
day use, the Bethlehem area women wore a sleeveless woolen coat (bisht)
instead of the taqsireh. The bisht, striped in red
and brown or in red and black, was made from wool hand woven in Bethlehem.
Belt
The girdle used in this area (Ishdad or hizam)
was made in Bethlehem of wool fabric in either pink or blue colors. Pink was usually
worn by
girls while the blue was worn by older women or those in mourning. 
Red
wool belt
Blue wool belt
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