Much of the exhibit focuses on what are known as "luxury towels," though the name is something of a misnomer. These towels were used more for decoration than drying off and often include ornate designs and embellishments which took a bit more skill to make than today's factory created towels with flying dolphins and oversized tool sets.

According to the museum's Rachel Hasson, who served as curator and artistic director for this collection, these luxury towels were often included as part of a dowry. "It's really beautiful," she explains to GoJerusalem.com of the phenomenon. "To prepare for her dowry, [the Ottoman bride] would show off the pieces, to show off the ability of the bride or the possibilities. Every bride had to have in her dowry embroidered pieces."

Many of the pieces feature floral patterns, but some stand out, especially, according to Hasson, those with garden motifs and architectural design elements. Even the ones that do follow the traditional patterns are special, she says, as "no two pieces are the same."

In addition, there are some pieces that show scenes of women embroidering, creating an embroidery-within-an-embroidery effect. Scenes like that reflect an "embroider what you know" mindset on the part of the artisan, as embroidery was a favorite female pastime 600 years ago, especially for women whose only other jobs were to sit around in harems, or royal courts, and look pretty.

"Embroidery and textiles were highly regarded for many generations," Hasson says. "Now everything has changed. Women are not sitting around and it's not a pastime anymore. It is something that has disappeared from this world. It doesn't have the same value as it used to have" - which makes documenting embroidery's place in the old culture, through initiatives like this exhibition, all the more significant.