Tulle-bi-telli, also known as Assuit or 'Assiut after Asyut where it is made, is a textile marrying cotton or linen mesh with small strips of metal. The first documentation of fabric is in the 18th century. ^[1] Other spellings include assuite, asyut, assyut, asyute, and azute. The name translates roughly as "net with metal".

Properties

Assuit has great lateral elasticity, thanks to its openwork mesh. It is heavy, and retains heat, but is favoured for its ability to drape.

Production

The base material is bobbinet, which is a machine-made fabric made of cotton or, in older pieces, linen. The embroidery is applied by hand. ^[2] Thin strips of alloy are threaded onto a flat, wide needle with a flat, wide eye. Alloy is used because pure silver would blacken with age and would be impossible to clean, and gold would be too costly. Each strip is approximately 1/8" wide and 18" to 24" long. The strips are threaded into the mesh, criss-crossed, flattened with the fingernails, and cut. The fabric is then stamped down, and when the designs are finished, the fabric is passed through a roller to flatten the metal even more.

Motifs

Many tulle bi telli pieces have geometric or figural motifs (such as people, animals, and objects). One such motif is the comb, which is included as a visual reference to pre-wedding henna nights. People may represent the bride or the wedding procession. A camel, especially with a person or object on it's back, represents the groom. A bed represents the marriage, and often bed motifs are placed next to a row of star motifs, evoking the night and therefore the things a husband and wife do in bed. ^[3]

History

Tulle-bi-telli probably has it's roots in Turkey, where the similar embroidery style tel kirma originates. ^[4] The tulle commonly used in the fabric and the machine to make it was associated with France, ^[5] but invented in England. ^[6] The ultimate history of tulle-bi-telli and tel kirma is also connected to a technique called badla, and to khus-duzi. It is possible the prototype of these embroidery styles originated somewhere in the Turkic cultural sphere and spread outwards thanks to the Ottoman empire, or that it was invented in India in the Mughal period in the form of Muqayyash embroidery. ^[7]

In Egypt, tulle-bi-telli shawls were at first a Coptic specialty. ^[4]

In Egypt bobbinet machines started being imported from Europe in the 1840s and in the 1870s the first evidence of tulle-bi-telli appeared. ^[8] Early in tulle-bi-telli's introduction to Europeans, they called it spangled mosquito netting, and it was bought to hang over hats for that very purpose. ^[6]

Uses

Assuit has been used in Hollywood productions such as the 1934 Cecil B. DeMille opus Cleopatra. It was draped on Hedy Lamarr in Samson and Delilah. It is used extensively for dresses in old Egyptian musicals. It was also worn draped over the head, as wraps, and as wedding gowns. Folkloric Belly Dancers often make costumes from it. It can also be used for decoration: Piano shawls were extremely popular, and specimens can still be found occasionally in antique shops.

Shawls come in different sizes: most are long and narrow, and the designs vary, ranging from the simple to the elaborate. Some people believe designs have been passed down through families, as with weaving and embroidery work. Some designs appear to be intentionally left incomplete. Coptic Christian designs often have animal and human figures, whereas Muslim shawls rely on geometric designs. In some places, assuit shawls are incorrectly referred to as Coptic shawls. The geometric designs were popular with the Art Deco movement, beginning around 1925.

See also

• Muqayyash
• Egyptian cultural fashion

References