The TRC holds a small collection of Jordanian clothing, including various embroidered garments and samples. It was built up with the help of Madame Widad Kawar of the Tiraz Centre in Amman, Jordan. The blog below was written by Fatima Abbadi, who discusses the traditional dress for women from the north of the country.
Detail of a dress from Irbid, in the north of Jordan, from the 1930's. The neckline is decorated with satin stitch and rekme embroidery (TRC 2005.0140).
"Little is written about traditional Jordanian dress. Very often it is confused with Palestinian clothing and its predominant cross stitch embroidery. Recently I even met people associating it with Moroccan kaftans. It should be added that many modern Jordanians no longer recognise their local traditional forms of clothing and indeed, embroidery. This is because of many factors, such as the introduction of machine embroidery, garment extinction and the fact that local patterns and stitch types are being replaced with Palestinian forms. As a result, typical Jordanian traditional dress has almost disappeared, very soon only to be seen in a few museums and other collections.
One of these places is Tiraz: the Widad Kawar Home of Arab Dress in Amman, Jordan. The Tiraz Centre hosts one of the largest collections of Jordanian dress in the world, and traditional garments and accessories are preserved and beautifully exhibited. I want to write about traditional Jordanian dress and the various initiatives to preserve and present this beautiful heritage to world attention. This interest is partly due to my Jordanian roots. This is the first of three blogs that I want to write for the TRC.
In addition, during my numerous talks with Salua Qidan from the Tiraz Centre, she introduced me to Ahmad Hussein, director of the Al Ayadi Craft Centre, an important institute in the Jordanian capital, Amman. It was established almost thirty years ago and is cooperating closely with Mrs. Widad Kawar (Tiraz Centre). Ahmad Hussein has also frequently met with Dr Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, the director of the TRC in Leiden.
The Al Ayadi Craft Centre has become an important reference point for Jordanian identity in terms of handicraft products. These include rugs, jewellery, embroidery, pottery, basketry and glass. At the same time it focuses on supporting, promoting and empowering Jordanian craftsmen and artisans.
Detail of a length of cloth produced by Bedouin in Jordan, mid-20th century, with rekme stitching (TRC 2018.1809).
Their last exhibition was called “Al Raqme”. It was held in Amman in 2018 in collaboration with the Tiraz Centre. It shed light on some of the embroidery traditions of northern Jordan. Rekme is a diagonal filling stitch, worked in a zig-zag movement. This type of embroidery produces a net of small diamonds. The gaps between them help to form a wide variety of patterns. Dress from the north of the country, with cities such as Ajloun, Irbid, Jarash, Kafaranga and Ramtha, share many characteristics, including them being made from a single length of cloth, as well as having relatively tight sleeves of varying lengths, a low neck line, a particular type of fabric, and the use of the rekme stitch.
The embroidery patterns produced in the region are also comparable with each other. Women used to give funny and cheerful names to the patterns, such as “four eggs in a pan”, “pigeon”, “soap slices” and so on. The patterns are often worked with colourful yarns in parallel stripes around the edges of the dress. Sadly, the difficulty and the length of time it takes to embroider with the “rekme” stitch is the reason why this type of garment has all but disappeared.
It is worth mentioning that the Al Ayadi and Tiraz centres play an important role in promoting and supporting Jordanian local heritage by organising local training projects. For instance, in the Ajloun area, in the north of the country, women are being trained on how to embroider hand pieces. In this way women are empowered and can make a living for themselves, while at the same time keeping the tradition alive. The outcome from this project is really a “unique representation of the Jordanian heritage” as Ahmad defined it.
Fatima Abbadi, 26 September 2020
