CHEBKA, DENTELLE ARABE
P-YS001 Cartier-Bresson Chebka, dentelle Arabe
Basic techniques for making Arabian knotted lace. Mediterranian knotted lace exists in many variations, this book focuses on the lace made in Tunisia. The base is two rows of stitches and the lace is knotted between those rows. Originally used to join pieces of fabric when making clothing, then expanding to decorative uses. 30 pages not including covers (uncommon size, page 15/16 was a single sheet).
Donated, scanned and edited by Sytske Wijnsma
Chebka is a strong lace like frivolite and filet, because of the many many knots. It doesn’t unravel easily like bobbin lace is wont to do once threads break. It is therefore suitable for clothing, which appears to have been the original use.
There is a useful page with more information about this lace: On the Internet: Tunisian Chebka Lace, unfortunately since the page dates from 2010 not all links are still active. However there’s a pdf of selected pages from another book about this lace which I can recommend. The entire book or another one that’s mentioned isn’t available anywhere at the moment, but both are on the wanted list as of now. If you happen to spot them for sale somewhere, please let us know.