Khawlan lies between Amran and Hajja, to the northwest of Sana`a, the capital of Yemen. Local women wear a daily and a festive version of an embroidered dress. Until the 1960's, both the daily dress and the festive examples had broad sleeves and were made from indigo dyed cotton cloth. By the end of the twentieth century, the sleeves on festive dresses had become much narrower and were often made of dark blue or black cotton material.