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A BOOK BY
Margarita Skinner in association with Widad Kawar Photography
by: Falak Shawwa Unlike previously published books on
Palestinian embroidery, this book is perhaps the first to
document by origin all the different motifs used on traditional
costumes. The heritage of embroidery is one of the great art
forms of village life in Palestine. From mother to daughter,
each generation added new inspirations to the traditional
designs. Margarita Skinner of Switzerland in collaboration with
Widad Kawar of Jordan provides us with a glimpse into the
history of embroidery, starting with the discovery of the needle
some 20,000 years ago. Over 200 Palestinian motifs of the period
1850-1950 have been illustrated. Unlike previously published
books on Palestinian Embroidery, A Treasury of Stitches is the
first to document all the different motifs by origin and names
used on the old dresses. Margarita Skinner, a health and welfare
aid worker, was in the Middle East for over twenty years as a
volunteer in hospitals, health centres and relief aid
organizations. During that time she worked in several
Palestinian women’s projects in Jordan, Gaza Strip, West Bank
and Lebanon. She organized kindergartens, occupational therapy
and sewing and embroidery projects in Jordan, and for five years
she supervised embroidery production by over 300 ladies in a
self-supporting programme in the Gaza Strip. She worked in the
Jerusalem office of the International Committee of the Red Cross
after the war in 1967, was UNRWA’s Welfare Officer in south
Lebanon in the summer of 1982 and UNICEF’s Health Coordinator in
Baghdad 1991/1992. Her 1998 book “Between Despair and Hope:
Windows on my Middle East Journey 1967-1992 (I.B. Tauris/Radcliffe
Press London) gives some details of this endeavour. Margarita
Skinner met Widad Kawar when they both worked in the refugee
camps of Jordan after the 1967 war. Today Widad Kawar is known
as “Umm ‘l-ibas al falastini” - mother of the Palestinian dress.
Her world-acclaimed collection is the largest in the Middle East
and has been exhibited in Germany, France, Norway, Sweden,
Denmark, England, Scotland, Iceland, Japan, Singapore,
Switzerland and Saudi Arabia. Margarita was a guide and
consultant during the exhibition in Switzerland in 2003.
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Margarita Skinner, a health and welfare aid
worker, was in the Middle East for over twenty years as a
volunteer in hospitals, health centres and relief aid
organizations. During that time she worked in several
Palestinian women’s projects in Jordan, Gaza Strip, West Bank
and Lebanon. She organized kindergartens, occupational therapy
and sewing and embroidery projects in Jordan, and for five years
she supervised embroidery production by over 300 ladies in a
self-supporting programme in the Gaza Strip.
She worked in the Jerusalem office of the
International Committee of the Red Cross after the war in 1967,
was UNRWA’s Welfare Officer in south Lebanon in the summer of
1982 and UNICEF’s Health Coordinator in Baghdad 1991/1992. Her
1998 book “Between Despair and Hope: Windows on my Middle
East Journey 1967-1992 (I.B. Tauris/Radcliffe Press London)
gives some details of this endeavour.
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