Fez No Sew Hairclip {Tutorial}

May 11, 2020May 19, 2020 | acraftyarab

We made this red fez no sew hairclip as part of our Ramadan crafts to learn about these fun hats named for a city in Morocco.

The fez (Arabic فاس‎ , Amazigh: ⴼⴰⵙ ), is a felt headdress in the shape of a short cylindrical peakless hat, usually red, and sometimes with a tassel attached to the top. The name “fez” refers to the Moroccan city of Fez, where the dye to color the hat was extracted from crimson berries.

This hat has been worn all over the world, by men and women, sometimes in black instead of red.

It has integrated itself deeply in history, taking a significant part of a 1908 Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina “Fez Boycott” and being banned as part of traditional clothing in 1925 in Turkey’s attempt to modernize. Even in America, there are many fraternal orders who are know for wearing fez hats, such at the Shriners, and the hat has even shown up in movies, like the Laurel and Hardy film Sons of the Desert.

This craft took a little more skill, so my older teen helped put it together.

Supplies

Felt – two red pieces, one is sticky back
Hairclip
Yellow embroidery thread
Scissors
Sharpie
Awl
Glue

I helped my teen draw out a line shape that was curved and also three circles.

The first two circles were close in size, with one of them just a little bit smaller, while the third circle was slightly larger than the other two. The largest circle was cut from the sticky back felt, while everything else was cut from the regular felt. My daughter cut out all four shapes.

To make the hat’s cylindrical shape, my daughter added glue to one of the ends and folded the other over it.

She set that aside for a few moments to work on the top and tassel, first using the awl to create a hole in the smallest of the circle.

To make the mini tassle, my daughter wrapped embroidery around the end of a pen.

She then carefully tied one end of the loop.

My daughter cut off an extra piece of embroidery thread and tied all the thread together at the top.

She then placed the scissors inside the loop and cut the threads at the bottom of the tassel.

Now that our hat shape was dry and our tassle was done, it was time to put the hat together. My daughter started by cutting a few small notches on the top of the hat.

My daughter then added the medium circle inside the hat shape, folding over the top of the hat and gluing down the edges.

She then added the tassel to the hole in the middle of the smallest circle.

My daughter added the smallest circle to the top of the hat and glued it down to the middle circle.

Now that the top of the hat was done, my daughter started on the bottom, adding glue to the edges of largest circle and attaching it. You do not have to remove the stick back from the felt circle, we just used this type of felt as it is thicker and will hold the bottom shape well.

The final step is to add glue so that the hair clip can be attached.

We let everything dry for a few hours before trying on our hairclip.

If you enjoyed this fez hat craft, be sure to check out these

Recycled K-cup Fez Treat {Tutorial}

Recycled Fez Party Hat {Tutorial}

Stop by A Crafty Arab on Pinerest to see more resources that teach about the Arab world.

Algeria Stitched Flag {Tutorial}

May 1, 2020May 22, 2020 | acraftyarab

As part of our Ramadan crafts challenge today, we learned about the flag of Algeria and embroidered it’s central moon & star on a stitch blank of America.

Algeria ( Arabic: علم الجزائر‎, Amazigh languages: ⴰⵛⴻⵏⵢⴰⵍ ⵏ ⴷⵣⴰⵢⴻⵔ) is located in Africa. It is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia, to the east by Libya, to the southeast by Niger, to the southwest by Mali, Mauritania, and the Western Saharan territory, to the west by Morocco, and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea.

The national flag of Algeria is divided into two equal vertical sections, green and white, with a red crescent moon and star in the center. The The colors and emblems on the flag represent the religion of Islam, the nation’s prominent faith.

I received this stitch blank as my role as Plaid Ambassador. If you are unable to find one, create your own by drawing out an outline of America & adding stitch holes for the moon & star center.

Supplies

My youngest teen made this tutorial today and she rates it easy. She started by painting the east coast of America white and the west coast, green.

Then she figured a moon outline out and used the red embroidery thread to sew it on.

Once the crescent moon was complete, she started on the star.

After both were finished, she tied off the thread & cut off any extra. Now our Algerian flag has been painted and stitched and ready to be placed in a frame, hung on a wall, or added to a book shelf.

If you enjoyed learning about the flag of Algeria, make sure you enjoy some lasagna as well while checking out these other Arab countries.

Stop by A Crafty Arab to see more tutorials about the Arab world & Muslim culture.

Keffiyeh Paper Topper {Tutorial} plus Farah Rocks Fifth Grade {Review}

January 28, 2020May 1, 2020 | acraftyarab

We made these keffiyeh paper toppers after we recently received the book Farah Rocks Fifth Grade by Susan Muaddi Darraj from the publisher Capstone to review for Multicultural Children’s Book Day.

This book is the start of a series that will be about a Palestinian girl named Farah Hajjar, who will be starting a different school the following year as she enters sixth grade. She hopes to enter a new academy with her best friend, but she starts to think twice about leaving her special needs younger brother behind on his own, in their old school. A bully situation has come up and without giving too much away, Farah, who had only one goal: to get into the academy, starts to have bad grades. On purpose!

What I loved most about this book is that Farah and her family are Christian, and she discusses her family commissioning a stained glass window in their church in Chapter 1. It is such a big misconception that all Arabs are Muslim, when more Arab Americans celebrate Christmas than celebrate Eid. I am happy to finally see that the publishing industry is shining some lights on books from the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region that are not Muslim focused.

My daughter wanted to share the book with some friends, who always had questions about her faith. She wanted to show them that there were different types of Arabs, just like there were different types of Americans. I suggested we share the link with their mothers so that they could buy it also and we could host a book club at our home. She loved the idea and made sure to invite friends from all three major faiths, Christians, Jewish, and Islam, to join us.

To celebrate the unity of religions in Palestine, we decided to make straw toppers for our book club drinks. We hoped they would be a great start to our conversation.

To make them, we went back to a map of Palestine from 1917, before it was divided up by the British. Diversity was celebrated and there were a number of factories that made keffiyeahs, the traditional head scarf worn in the MENA region. Now, outside of China, there is only one factory making this headscarf in Palestine.

Traditionally thought of as only black & white, keffiyeahs actually come in many colors.