Nile runner
Weaving photo
The workshop
Since the 1940s, women in Akhmim have been taught to embroider here. Over time the work grew into a style of its own, built on scenes from daily life rather than imported patterns.
The cotton is hand-woven, 100% Egyptian. The embroidery is worked freely: no printed design, no transfer, so the composition and the colours are each woman's own choice.
Most of the embroiderers are the main earner in their household. The workshop also revives Coptic and Islamic designs from the region's own textile history — Akhmim cloth has been woven and traded for four thousand years.
How a piece is made
1
Spinning & dyeing
Threads are dyed in the workshop's own colours, batch by batch.
2
Weaving
The cotton ground is woven on the loom, plain or striped.
3
Embroidery
The scene is stitched freehand — the longest stage, weeks for a large hanging.
4
Finishing
Washed, pressed, hemmed and labelled with the artisan's name when she agrees.
Akhmim pieces
Motif napkins, set of 4
Striped placemats
Village wall hanging
Embroidered tote bag
Iftar table set
1940
The association's first year of work in Upper Egypt
100%
Egyptian cotton, hand-woven
4,000
Years of textile-making in Akhmim