I have been collecting Syria costumes since I was seventeen and now have them from all over Syria. Village, city, and Bedouin dresses and coats. Thisimage is a side panel on my Sukhneh Coat ( town near Palmyra). Silk floss on satin backed cotton. Palm like trees and carnations symbolize renewal and fertility. The pine trees above the amulets ( fertility triangles) express the area these women lived in which happened to be an Oasis full of trees. This art form stopped all together in the sixties . Typically women embroidered one complete set ( long jacket, skirt, and occasionally an under-dress) as sunlight and the financial well-being of the embroiderer-bride were important & deciding factors that effected the building of personal wardrobe.