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What is Khayameya ?
Pass through the massive 10th-century gate of Bab
Zuwayla, in old Cairo, cross the small square in front of the gate
and you are at the beginning of one of the oldest thorough fares in
Cairo - Shari (street) Khayameya. Khayma means "tent" in Arabic and
here, in the Street of the Tentmakers, the ancient craft of making
huge tent pavilions, or suradeq, out of appliquéd cloth patterns has
been carried on for hundreds of years.
All of the designs used in
the making of a new tent must first be drawn on large sheets of
brown paper. A fine needle point pricks out the outline of each
pattern in tens of thousands of small holes.
The perforated sheet of paper is then laid upon each chosen piece
of colored cloth - brilliant blue, blazing red or scintillating
green. A black carbon dust is sprinkled lightly over the paper so
that the dust percolates through the holes, leaving behind a fine
stencil outline of the pattern pounced onto the cloth, ready to be
cut out. This same process is repeated for the hundreds of pieces of
colored cloth used to embellish a single tent.
The tent makers used the same technique in doing very attractive
cushion covers, bedspreads, table runner and wall hangings .
Al-Khayameya street leading to Bab
Zuweila
Click to buy Khayameya cushion cover
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