Tag Archives: Crafts

October 3, 2021
Turath Baladna (Our Country’s Heritage)

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Sunday, October 3, Noon – 3 pm
James Madison Park shelter
614 E Gorham St, Madison, WI

Wishing you could visit Palestine? Don’t miss this free outdoor celebration of Palestinian dance and culture.

Dance performance by Milwaukee’s Traditional Palestinian Dabka group Al-Ghurba. Free Palestinian snacks and sweets. Taste and celebrate this year’s Olive Harvest! Purchase Palestinian Olive Oil, soap and spices from Playgrounds for Palestine and learn about the playground funded by donations from Madison in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Shop early for the holidays from a selection of Palestinian Kuffiyas and handmade earrings, jewelry and embroidered shawls, scarves, household items, bags, purses and more, made in Palestine by Women in Hebron Craft Cooperative and available in the US from Palestine Partners.

Enjoy a free demonstration of the traditional Palestinian art of Henna painting and have an artist decorate your hands.

Door Prizes, including Olive Oil, a traditional Kuffiya made in Palestine’s last Kuffiya factory, and a hand embroidered coin purse made in Hebron.

This event is free and open to the public. Although the event is in an open park shelter we ask that you wear a mask, to keep yourself and other guests safe. Masks and hand sanitizer will be available free.

Presented by Students for Justice in Palestine, Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, Playgrounds for Palestine Madison Chapter, Palestine Partners, grassroots group Madison for Palestine, and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network.

October 16, 2021
Palestinian Olive Oil and Crafts Sidewalk Sale

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Saturday, Oct 16, 10 am – 4 pm
1924 East Dayton Street, Madison [Map]
Off First Street between East Washington and East Johnson
(Rain date: Sunday October 17 at 317 Rethke Ave, 11 am – 3 pm)

Palestine Partners and Playgrounds for Palestine will hold a fall Sidewalk Sale to celebrate the olive harvest. Handmade Palestinian crafts from Women in Hebron Fair Trade Cooperative and Olive Oil, Soap and spices from Playgrounds for Palestine.

Beautifully embroidered bags, purses, scarves and pillow covers, handmade earrings and other beautiful crafts from Women in Hebron Fair Trade Cooperative in the West Bank. Palestinian-made Kuffiyas, the beautiful traditional shawls of Palestine, in an amazing array of colors, made in Palestine’s one surviving Kuffiya factory in Al Khalil (Hebron). Fair Trade Olive Oil from small farms in Palestine, Olive Oil Soap, and Zatar spice, all from Playgrounds for Palestine.

Hosted by Palestine Partners and Playgrounds for Palestine.

Stand with Palestine Yard Signs will be available for purchase. Celebrate the olive harvest! Please come out and support Palestinian artisans and farmers and their communities as they struggle to the health and economic impacts of COVID and a recent increase in settler aggression throughout the West Bank.

You can also shop online for crafts and yard signs at Palestine Partners and for Oil at Playgrounds for Palestine.

Note: Please wear a mask to the sale in order to protect others. Disposable masks and hand sanitizer available.

Update: August 28, 2021
Sidewalk Sale of Palestinian Crafts!

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The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project and Palestine Partners successful yard sale during the Orton-Front Festival (above).

If you missed it and want to buy Palestinian crafts or yard signs you can still contact rafahsistercity@yahoo.com or visit Palestine Partners.

August 28, 10 am to 4 pm outside 1820 Rutledge St, Madison [Map]

Madison-Rafah Sister City Project and Palestine Partners will hold our first in-person crafts sale since February 2020, near Yahara Park during the Orton-Front Festival. Stop buy to see beautiful fair-trade crafts from Gaza, Hebron, and other parts of Palestine, including embroidery, ceramics, wood products, jewelry, keffiyehs, and olive oil soap.

You can browse before the sale at the Madison-Rafah Marketplace!

(Rain date is Sunday, August 29 at the same location, from 11 am to 3 pm)


March 10, 2021
Introduction to Palestinian Tatreez Embroidery Online

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Folklore Village, Dodgeville, WI

$20.00

  • An online embroidery workshop with textile artist Wafa Ghnaim
  • Wednesday, March 10
  • 5-7 PM Central Time
  • Hosted over Zoom videoconferencing
  • Register for Online Class

Supplies are listed here: https://www.tatreezandtea.com/supplies under “Aida Cloth”.

After you pay, you will receive an automated email with all the information you need to get connected to the Zoom call. If you prefer to pay by mail or over the phone, please call (608) 924-4000 or email programs@folklorevillage.org to make arrangements.

For Zoom troubleshooting questions, click here.

Join textile artist Wafa Ghnaim for a two-hour introduction into the beautiful and ancient art of Palestinian tatreez embroidery! Tatreez is often used to decorate the traditional Palestinian dress, called a thobe, but also adorns many other kinds of household and decorative objects. Different villages and regions within Palestine have their own traditional patterns, and Wafa has a wealth of knowledge to share about this history! In this 2-hour virtual class, students will learn how to embroider the Beyout (Houses) motif from el-Khalil (Hebron) to create a bookmark. Learning objectives include:

  1. How to thread a needle.
  2. The meaning and history of the pattern in focus.
  3. How to start a tatreez sampler. Instructions are listed here
  4. Color selection and strategy.
  5. The basics of traditional Palestinian embroidery cross-stitch, including two different methods of stitching and the principals of successful Palestinian embroidery execution.
  6. Stitching strategy to execute the cleanest motif on fabric.
  7. Tips & tricks unique to the motif.

Patterns are sent 24-48 hours in advance of the class. No experience is required. This class will be recorded and made available after the live session. Please contact Wafa at wafa@tatreezandtea.com with any questions.

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Palestine Partners and Women in Hebron

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Dear Friends,

Last year at this time my friend Laila was visiting the US, bringing the fabulously beautiful hand embroidered work of Women in Hebron to Fair Trade holiday craft shows and church basements and the homes of friends.

Laila can’t travel here from Palestine now, and the cooperative can no longer sell their work to tourists in the Old City of Hebron, because there are no tourists in the Holy Land. Their shop in the souk, the first to be operated by women, is shuttered and dark along with all the rest.

This video tells the history of Women in Hebron Fair Trade Co-op since their founding in 2005.

But now you can support Women in Hebron from home by shopping at their new online store at Palestine Partners, and I really hope that you’ll join me in doing just that this holiday season. You’ll find find beautiful one-of-a kind hand made tree ornaments, bags, purses, pillow covers, placemats, backpacks, and more there, all decorated with stunning Palestinian embroidery. And best of all, buying these products will make a huge positive difference in the lives of the women who make them.

Shop now at Women in Hebron’s Online Store

Laila worked so hard on last year’s trip here. She kept a schedule that would put most people on the couch for weeks – traveling back and forth across the US on trains and busses, with two huge duffle bags and a backpack filed with gloriously colored hand embroidered ornaments and scarves and placemats and pillow covers and coin purses and bags – and even small cats wearing tiny traditional Palestinian Kuffiyas. She has a huge heart, and an unbelievably strong spirit, and I have never known her to complain, but she recently told me that the impact of COVID has turned the clock back 20 years for the women she works with.

For many of these women the co-operative presented the very first chance to independently earn a living and care for themselves and their families through their own labor in a just and supportive cooperative setting. Now with COVID, the loss of sales has been devastating. Beautiful products are waiting on shelves, and the cooperative is unable to purchase additional materials, or pay women for the creation of new products, until they are able to sell the inventory.

So I’m asking you now, please, shop at their online store. These women need to work.

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Madison’s Virtual Fair Trade Holiday Festival is Open!

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Our online store, Madison-Rafah Marketplace, has added crafts to our olive oil sales. We offer ceramics, embroidery, jewelry, kufiyas, woodcrafts, and calendars.

For the month of November make this your one-stop shopping for holiday gift giving. Spend your money on products that support your values. Give gifts that give twice, once to the producer and once to your recipient.

Since 2004 the Madison-Rafah Crafts Committee has worked with fair trade organizations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to purchase mostly traditional crafts. We buy them at fair trade prices, helping the artists support their families and the economy of Palestine.

We hope you will be able to participate in this annual event. As always, thank you for your support.



Browse other participating Fair Trade vendors! You can also follow the Festival on Facebook.

November 2020
Virtual Fair Trade Holiday Festival

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Dear Members and Friends of MRSCP,

Mark your calendars for the upcoming Madison Fair Trade Holiday Festival, which has gone virtual this year due to the pandemic.

The sale will be during the month of November. Make this your one stop shop for all your holiday gift giving. Spend your money on products that support your values; give gifts that give twice, once to the producer and once to the recipient.

You will be able to browse all the participating vendors and order directly from their websites by visiting Madison Fair Trade Holiday Festival.

You can also follow the Festival on Facebook.

MRSCP will be participating in the virtual sale via our online store, Madison-Rafah Marketplace. We will carry most of our usual items.

(The store is currently up and running for olive oil sales; our complete product listings will be available when the Festival opens.)

Note: MRSCP CANNOT ship or deliver any purchases; they need to be picked up. You will receive instructions and a pickup window following your purchase. In hardship cases, we may be able to provide delivery.

We hope you will be able to participate in this annual event, and as always, thanks for your support.

Barb O.
MRSCP