About the Tatreez Quilt Project
We are living in times of urgency and uncertainty where everything around us is shifting faster than we can process. Quilting and stitching has long been used as a powerful tool for resistance such as being used as visual codes along the Underground Railroad to indicate safe houses to enslaved people on the run. Quilts are a visual archive of generational memory, a gathering of people at a particular time and place, and a testament of collective care in the face of oppression and genocide.
The Tatreez Quilt Project is a collaborative cultural preservation and storytelling initiative that brings together Palestinian embroidery, textile arts, and community memory. Rooted in the traditional art of Tatreez, the project uses the quilt as a collective canvas to preserve stories, honour heritage, and create connections across generations and the Palestinian diaspora.
Each embroidered piece contributes to a larger collective work, with individual motifs representing personal stories, family histories, regional identities, memories, and connections to Palestine. Together, these individual contributions form a larger textile narrative that reflects the diversity, resilience, and continuity of Palestinian culture.
The project is grounded in the belief that every stitch carries a story. Through the process of learning, stitching, sharing, and creating together, participants become part of an ongoing effort to preserve Palestinian embroidery and the knowledge held within it.
The Tatreez Quilt Project is not simply about creating a quilt. It is about preserving cultural knowledge, documenting memory, strengthening community, and passing Palestinian traditions forward to future generations.
Our Purpose
The project aims to:
- Preserve and promote the traditional art of Palestinian Tatreez.
- Create a collective record of Palestinian stories, memories, and cultural identity.
- Connect generations through the practice of embroidery and textile-making.
- Provide opportunities for Palestinians and members of the wider community to learn and practice Tatreez.
- Celebrate the diversity of Palestinian regional embroidery traditions and motifs.
- Create a lasting communal artwork that can be shared, exhibited, and passed down to future generations.
A Living Textile Archive
At its heart, the Tatreez Quilt Project is a living textile archive. Every motif, stitch, and contribution becomes part of a larger story—one that connects individual experiences to a broader Palestinian cultural history.
Through this project, Tatreez becomes both art and archive; tradition and contemporary practice; personal expression and collective memory.
Every stitch preserves a story.