TIBEB

Ethiopian Traditional Weaving Art


Ethiopian Tibeb

Tibeb is a term used in Ethiopia to describe the pattern or decoration made by either handweaving with supplementary weft into the border of the shdmma (or shemma) or hand embroidering the same. Tibeb designs are woven using continuous extra weft of one or more different colors, and as the making process is time-consuming contemporary weavers use discontinuous wefts of many colors.
weavers have integrated the “Tibeb” design into larger patterns, with these traditional clothes signifying religious identity as well as ethnic identities in different areas of the country. The raw weft materials used for Tibeb patterning are yarns of cotton, silk, metallic, rayon (saba which is twisted rayon), acrylic, and wool. In the past, Tibeb designs would have been made in cotton and pure silk, but nowadays Tibeb designs incorporate rayon floss or twisted “art silk”, mixed to find the desired color effect.
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