Marrakesh Express
Women Weavers OnLine
Ben Smim
Piece 3.13035 is a heavy wool blanket made by Fatima; you can see the whole piece here (again, don't worry about the dark shadow). Fatima treated the white wool herself, but had the blue dyed in nearby Azrou. She could do it herself, but said that for such a large piece she'd need a large container for the dye. She could have done it piecemeal, but said then the color (from different dye lots) would vary. You can still see a bit of abrash or color variation on the close-up here. The size is about 6' x 10'6" and the price is $360.
Piece 3.13045 is a simple blanket in stripes of natural wool, nubbly cotton, and another bright white thread that local people call "silk" although it is not natural silk but perhaps rayon. If you click on the picture you can see the simple design stripe better, with its traditional colors of maroon and dark blue. You can see the entire piece here. Fatima made this piece about 17 years ago; she used her daughter's age to help date it. It measures about 6'2" x 10'6" and costs $415.
Piece 3.13041 is something quite new, at least to most of my customers. For Moroccans, this would be an everyday rug, and in fact this just returned from the university room of Fatima's oldest daughter. It's similar to what is called a bou-sherawat, literally a rag rug. This is a bit different because it is not made of strips of old clothing, or rags, but of fibers from old sweaters. You can see them clearly on this close-up, or click here to see the full photo of the pile side. Fatima explained that when one of the children outgrows a sweater but it's still in good shape and there's no one to hand it down to, she cuts it up and uses the yarn. She copied this pattern from a wool rug, and there are rows of wool between the knots of acrylic sweater yarn, which you can see on this close-up. She said this takes as long to weave as a wool rug, but it takes less time in preparation, since she doesn't have to card and spin wool. The size if this rug is about 4' x 7' and the price is $245.
This is Habiba and Fatima's mother, who made the two pieces below. In fact, she's wearing the cape immediately below. She lives with her husband, a farmer, and Habiba and her married brother on their farm across the valley from the village of Ben Smim, where most of the weavers live.
Piece 3.12918 was made by Habiba's mother and is a brand new woman's cape. The ground is natural wool and cotton in fine stripes, and the design bands are black and white with accents in dark blue, deep pink, a little red and teal blue. You can see them by clicking on the photo, and the whole cape here. The back has rows of tufted white threads behind the colors and between them rows of sequins, which you can see in detail here. This piece measures 4' x 7'3" and costs $270.
Piece 3.12922 is an older blanket made by Habiba's mother in off-white natural wool, textured cotton and "hrir", which can mean silk or rayon; I expect it's the latter, since silk is very hard to get in Morocco. You can see all these details better by clicking on the photo, and see the full piece here. The price may seem a bit high, but Habiba explained it's because it's made of very fine wool, which takes a long time to prepare and weave. It's also quite large. This blanket measures about 5'9" x 10'6" and the price is $330.
