Wafa’s Publications


2024

Tatreez Star Motifs: Reclaiming Indigenous Cultural Knowledge Online through Community Dialogue, December 17. Institute for Palestine Studies: Washington, DC.


Reclaiming Palestinian Beauty, One Wall Label at a Time, November 3. Hyperallergic: New York, New York.


Tatreez in Time: The memory, meaning, and makers of Palestinian embroidery, July 26. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Perspectives: New York, New York.


TATREEZ COMPANION: Palestinian Embroidery Study Booklet (Second Edition), The Tatreez Institute: Washington, DC

A 65-page full color companion booklet that serves as a supplement to any teacher and student of Palestinian embroidery (tatreez) in the diaspora. Includes a statement about cultural appropriation, three methodologies of traditional cross-stitch, over 50 tatreez patterns (please review list of patterns before purchasing), as well as an embroidered wall hanging found under the rubble of Gaza in 2023. Please note that this is an expansion of a previously sold booklet that was cheaper to print bound rather than stapled, allowing the author to increase the page count four times and improve paper quality, while maintaining a similar price.


TATREEZ BEAUTY: A Coloring Book, The Tatreez Institute: Washington, DC

An 84-page black and white coloring book for kids and adults beginning to learn about the beauty of Palestinian embroidery and dressmaking traditions. Includes 34 coloring pages with blank pages in between, historic images of Palestinian children wearing traditional dress, educational information about traditional garments, a word search, reading list and true short story about the author learning tatreez at a young age.


2023

THOBNA: Reclaiming Palestinian Dresses in the Diaspora, The Tatreez Institute: Washington, DC

192 full color pages that cultivates a reclamation process for rescuing Palestinian dress in the diaspora, teaching the traditional stitching techniques in tatreez (with diagrams and color palettes) through 20 pages of instructions, includes a 47 page pattern library of exclusively Intifada patterns, a detailed analysis of contemporary Palestinian dress styles after 1948, the stories of 10 rescued Palestinian dresses that formed the basis of the the Tatreez Institute collection, a glossary of dress history terms in English and Arabic, a history that places the possible origination of Palestinian embroidery in world history with abundant and inclusive citations that leverage previously-existing peer-reviewed research. Instrumental in fashion history and costume study research in a university setting, as well as aspiring makers of Palestinian embroidery.


2018

Tatreez & Tea: Embroidery and Storytelling in the Palestinian Diaspora, Second Edition, Edited by Safa Ghnaim. The Tatreez Institute: Brooklyn, New York.

Co-authored with Wafa’s mother, award-winning Palestinian embroidery artist Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim, Tatreez & Tea is a 448 page full color book that serves as an oral history documentation and biography of a Palestinian family in the diaspora preserving traditional embroidery techniques and dressmaking traditions. The book uses the embroidered dresses created by Wafa’s mother to tell the stories of their creation, the historic meanings of the patterns as passed on in the Abbasi family from Safad, and the new stories they capture in Feryal’s process of making in the diaspora. Each embroidery created by Feryal includes the cross-stitch patterns passed on to Wafa and her sisters, the important lessons that tatreez teaches in daily life, as well as tea recipes and anecdotes that helped Wafa and her family recreate the historic “stitching circle” that is paramount to preserving the culture of tatreez. Tatreez & Tea is more than just a book about patterns, tea, coffee and embroidery techniques preserved in the diaspora—it preserves and protects tatreez as an indigenous ceremony enlightened by relationships and storytelling.


No longer available in e-book format, originally released in 2016
Palestine Book Awards Nominee


Forthcoming Publications by Wafa

  • On Loss and Absence: The Lives and Legacies of Textiles Exhibition Catalogue, Art Institute of Chicago, ed. L Vinebaum, Yale University Press

  • Threads of Time, ed. Malin Lonnberg, Hali Publications Limited

  • FASHION’S MISSING MASSES: The representation of marginalized populations in collections and exhibitions of dress, ed. Kenna Libes, Vernon Press

  • Encyclopedia of World Textiles, ed. Vandana Bhandari and Alicia Decker, Vol. 5, Bloomsbury Publication

  • Narrative Threads, ed. Joanna Barakat, Saqi Press


Publications that Cite Wafa

Sheets, Kristine, Embroidered Memories: Postmemorial Nostalgia in Palestinian Tatreez (August 19, 2024). Emotions and Society, 2024[10.1332/26316897Y2024D000000038], Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=