All about ikat

 All About Ikat, the Gorgeous Indonesian Dyeing Technique

The Indonesian dyeing technique requires the skill of masterful artisans

When it comes to incredible textile dyeing techniques, Indonesia is the place to be. While batik might get the lion’s share of attention—and it really does produce a beautiful product—ikat (pronounced ee-kaht) is undeniably impressive, too. Like batik—and even classic American tie dye—ikat is a resist-dyeing technique: Yarns are bundled and bound with string then dyed to create patterns. But as designer Angie Hranowsky explains, there’s something quite unique about ikat: “Unlike batiks and other techniques, ikat yarns are dyed before they are woven into the cloth, making for a very complicated but beautiful process.” As such, it takes incredible skill to become an ikat artisan!

ikat fabric from lombok indonesia

The History of Ikat

Pre-weaving dyeing techniques developed independently in regions all around the world—notably in the South American Andes, the Middle East, and all throughout Asia—over the past two millennia. But the strongest concentration of this textile production was in Indonesia, where the ikat technique took its name from Malay word mengikat, which means “to tie.”

Ikat reached the Western world in the 20th century via Dutch traders in Southeast Asia and travelers along the Silk Road (the region that is now Uzbekistan was another hub for the technique, where it is called atlas by the Uyghurs.)

Different Types of Ikat

There are three main types of ikat, each related to the components of woven fabric known as warp (the yarns attached to the loom and held stationary) and weft (the yarn that’s thread between the warp yarns in an over-under pattern). They all can be dyed with a single color or multiple hues—and the more dyeing, the more difficult the process!

Warp Ikat: The simplest form of the technique, warp ikat involves dyeing the warp before weaving the undyed weft into place.

Weft Ikat: As you might guess, weft ikat is when the weft is dyed before weaving, rather than the warp. Since the weft is not stationary like the warp, it’s significantly more difficult to achieve perfect patterns with this technique than warp ikat. Oftentimes the patterns are left slightly blurry due to the pattern alignment being ever so slightly off; that blurriness has actually become a signature look of ikat.

Double Ikat: The most difficult technique of them all, double ikat means that both the warp and the weft are dyed into patterns before weaving: assembling them together is an impressive feat of craftsmanship. Given that difficulty, double ikat fabrics are the rarest and most expensive ikat products.

JULIA LYNN/ANGIE HRANOWSKY

How Ikat Is Used in Interior Design Today

Ikat has traditionally been used in a variety of products, from clothing to funerary shrouds to wall hangings, and these end products are still very much the same today. (Though oftentimes contemporary “ikat” is not actually ikat at all: The textiles simply feature ikat-style patterns that have been printed into the fabric rather than dyed into the yarn before weaving.)

“Ikat-style patterns are often used in today’s interiors—for upholstery and draperies, as well as rugs,” says Hranowsky. “I love vintage ikats and often incorporate them in my designs—draped over a sofa, chair or bed, or even as a wall hanging. I also love to use ikat textiles to make pillows; they add a beautiful shot of pattern.

Ikat

 

Ikat

    

ikat production

Ikat production

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Ikat is a resist dye technique used to pattern textiles. The more common methods of resist dyeing involve covering parts of a fabric to shield the reserved areas from penetration of the dye, as in tie-dyeing, where threads are wound around the fabric, or in batik, where wax is applied to the surface of the cloth. The term "ikat" by contrast, is used for a process where prior to weaving, warp (lengthwise yarn) or weft (crosswise thread) or sometimes both are tied off with fiber knots that resist absorbing color and are then dyed. To facilitate the pattern tying, the threads are set up on a frame. They are then grouped into bunches of several threads to be tied at once; this results in the creation of knot units from which the overall pattern is built up. Resist ties are removed or new ones added for each color; their combinations create the design. After dyeing is completed, all resists are opened, and the patterned yarns are woven.

The word "ikat" comes from the Malay-Indonesian word for "tie"; it was introduced into European sources of textile technology and history in the early twentieth century when Dutch scholars began paying attention to the rich textile traditions of the Netherlands Indies, the present-day Indonesia. Depending on whether the tied fibers are applied to the warp or weft, the technique is identified as either warp ikat or weft ikat. A third variety, double ikat, combines both warp- and weft-tied resist. For the pattern to be visible, the resist-dyed thread system has to be the prominent one, so for warp ikat, the weave has to be warp-faced, and weft ikat needs a weftfaced structure, which means that either warp or weft is predominantly visible. Plain weave is especially suitable for showing the ikat's design, but for weft ikat, a twill weave may also be used. Double ikat, where the design is built up from both systems, should ideally by woven in a balanced weave, with warp and weft equally visible. All textile fibers may be used for ikat, although silk and cotton are the most common ones. For the seminal study of ikat as a resist dye technique, its history and geographic distribution, see Alfred Bühler (1972).

History of the Technique

While it is not known when and where the resist technique first developed, Asia has several cultural regions with a particularly strong ikat tradition. Maritime Southeast Asia, India, and Central Asia are all potential candidates for the origin of the technique, but it may also have evolved independently in several locations. Ikat may have spread at an early age through many parts of the Austronesian-speaking world, as technical similarities exist between Indonesian ikat production and that of Madagascar, which was settled by maritime Southeast Asians early in the first millennium C.E. As Malagasy weavers also use a distinctly Austronesian version of a horizontal back-strap loom, the technique may have arrived simultaneously with the spread of loom technology. Ikat patterning is probably represented in garments shown in the Ajanta cave paintings of India (from the fifth to the seventh century). A fragment patterned in the technique, kept for centuries in the Horyuji temple at Nara but now in the Tokyo National Museum, was apparently brought there from China during the Tang period (618-907 C.E.), but was probably produced in Central Asia. Cotton textiles with relatively simple warp ikat stripes were made in Yemen by the eighth or ninth century and were traded to Egypt, where they have survived.

Related Articles

RESIST DYEING

CENTRAL ASIAN TEXTILES

HANDWOVEN TEXTILES

Early ikat production is also testified for pre-Columbian South America, in particular Peru, where a few examples of ikat survive from before the common era. The Mapucha of Chile still produce indigo-dyed warp ikat textiles. Guatemalan ikat, on the other hand, may have been introduced originally as trade textiles brought by the Spanish from the Philippines and could ultimately have a Southeast Asian source. West African weavers also make use of the technique, in particular in Ghana, the Ivory Coast, and Nigeria. In the Mediterranean world and Europe, ikat apparently developed in response to Islamic textiles; it first appeared in Italy in the seventeenth century as an influence from warp-ikat striped mashru cloth (a warp-faced satin weave with silk warp and cotton weft) made in Syria and Turkey. For its spread through Europe, especially France, Majorca, and Spain, see Marie-Louise Nabholz-Kartaschoff.

Nineteenth- and twentieth-century evidence show that at least during the last two hundred years, Asia produced the most varied and highest quality ikat textiles, and a survey of the technique will inevitably have the continent as its main focus, although the occurrence of ikat worldwide needs to be acknowledged. Particularly fine material survives from India, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Japan. China, otherwise of course a producer of quality textiles, apparently has not developed the technique to any degree, at least outside its Central Asian provinces.

Regional Characteristics in Asia

Traditional Ikat cloth, 1900, in Orissa, India

Traditional Ikat cloth; Orissa, India c1900

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India and Southeast Asia are the geographical regions with the greatest diversity of ikat weaving, with all three technical versions present and developed to an unrivalled variety of designs. In India, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, and Gujarat are best known for their ikat traditions, but Tamil Nadu in southern India also once had an active production. The most famous, and complex, of ikat textiles are the patola (sing. patolu) of Gujarat. These double-ikat, sari-length silk cloths are in the early 2000s only made by a small group of weavers in Patan. Their designs require great precision in planning and setting up of warp and weft, as the desired effect is a clear outline of patterns, rather than the softly blurred appearance characteristic of many ikat traditions. Patola are still worn as saris in India, but they also have ceremonial functions, such as at weddings, where they may be used to drape the bride and bridegroom.

For centuries, patola were not only made for an Indian clientele, but were also luxury trade items. Their international reputation as high-quality export textiles was already established in Southeast Asia when the first Europeans became involved with the maritime trade of Asia in the early sixteenth century. The Portuguese and later Dutch and English traders discovered that patola were essential exchange items for establishing local contacts in the lucrative spice trade. Patola made for the Southeast Asian market were usually smaller in size than the sari-length textiles found in India, and they had distinctly different designs.

Patola imitations in weft ikat are produced in Rajkot in Saurashtra, western Gujarat; these use conventional patola designs but are garish in colors and technically less ambitious. Andhra Pradesh and Orissa produce both cotton and silk warp and weft ikat, sometimes using both in a single cloth, such as the telia rumal handkerchiefs made in Chirala, Andhra Pradesh. Warp and weft may be matched to create simple double ikat patterns, but more often warp and weft ikat are placed separately in different parts of the textile. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in southern India formerly produced fine cotton and silk sari with very simple ikat bands.

Southeast Asia has a strong warp ikat tradition, usually worked on cotton. Particular highlights are found in Sarawak (Borneo) among the Iban, the Toba Batak of northern Sumatra, and throughout eastern Indonesia, specifically on Sumba, Roti and Savu, Flores, and the Solor Islands. Weft ikat is most commonly associated with silk weaving and is found predominantly in mainland and western maritime Southeast Asia; it occurs in Cambodia among the Khmer, in southern Sumatra, and (as a cotton version) on Bali. Double ikat is only found in Bali in the village of Tenganan, where the ceremonially important cotton geringsing cloths are woven. The designs used in Southeast Asian ikat combine indigenous motifs with outside influences, as they incorporate patterns that go back to the region's prehistory, with a response to Indian textiles. Particularly relevant are the patola formerly traded from Gujarat, which had a major impact on local ikat textiles.

Central Asia produces silk warp ikat garments, in particular coats worn by men and women until the early twentieth century. These were made by specialist weavers and dyers in the city-states along the Silk Road, often involving the local Jewish communities, and were worn as heavily quilted outer garments, as well as undercoats without cotton padding. These robes are characteristically dyed with vibrant colors and large-scale designs; unlike some other ikat traditions that may place importance on a precise outline of patterning (the patola of Gujarat and warp ikat textiles from Borneo and eastern Indonesia), the bold effect is the desired aesthetic achievement, rather than a clearly defined motif. In East Asia, ikat continues to be commonly produced in Japan. It was traditionally only dyed with indigo, although other colors have become used as well. One finds both warp and weft ikat, often combined into double ikat patterns.

Glossary of Technical Terms

Balance Weave: A textile structure in which the number of yarns in the lengthwise direction and the number of yarns in the crosswise direction are similar in size and number.

Warp/Warp Yarn: Lengthwise yarns in a woven fabric.

Warp-Faced: Fabric in which the lengthwise (warp) yarns predominate on the surface of the fabric.

Weft/Weft Yarn: Crosswise yarns in a woven fabric. Synonyms: filling, woof.

Weft-Faced: Fabric in which the crosswise (weft) yarns predominate on the surface of the fabric.

While ikat production in India, Central, and East Asia is done in commercial or craft industry-oriented workshops and is mainly carried out by men, the tying and weaving of ikat in Southeast Asia is definitely a female activity. The textiles of the region are often associated with ritual and ceremonial functions that concern both individuals and the community. They may be presented as gifts at marriage and funerals, or may be essential paraphernalia for ritual cycles and ceremonies. Even when they are made to be used by men, their production is inevitably closely linked to the female aspect of society, both in mainland and maritime Southeast Asia.

Production and Function

Traditional ikat fabric of Flores island in Indonesia

Traditional ikat fabric of Flores

SOURCE

Ikat continues to be produced in the early 2000s, especially in Southeast and East Asia. It may also have a revival in India, as traditional crafts there experience a certain renaissance. Ikat textiles are used for both dress and display purposes. They can be appreciated for their decorative beauty alone, but because a complicated pattern is difficult to achieve in this technique, especially when several colors are part of the design, ikat garments may carry a high prestige value as well. This is apparent in the use of patola as costly sari fabrics worn by women in India; it also contributed to the local appreciation of ikat garments in Central Asia, where the robes were considered most prestigious if they included several colors, as this implied the repeated tying of the warp threads and further dyeing, which is both time-consuming and technically demanding.

Although most ikat textiles produced in Southeast Asia are used as garments, such as the wrap-around sarong or an open shoulder cloth, they may in addition acquire a considerable ceremonial importance. They are produced by women and therefore have become closely associated with the status females have in the region, which in general is high and inevitably is linked to concepts of fertility. The ikat textiles are frequently a prescribed part of elaborate gift exchanges accompanying a wedding. Textiles with a ceremonial function often use designs and color combinations that are considered traditional in the local context; comparing current patterns to those found in early museum collections can provide confirmation that designs have been established for several generations and continue to follow certain conventions. Ikat textiles made for daily wear, on the other hand, display local fashions in both design and color and may change relatively quickly.

See also Dyeing; Resist Dyeing; Plain Weave; Twill Weave.

Bibliography

Bühler, Alfred. Ikat Batik Plangi. 3 vols. Basel, Switzerland: Pharos Verlag, 1972.

Bühler, Alfred, and Eberhard Fischer. The Patola of Gujarat: Double Ikat in India. 2 vols. Basel, Switzerland: Krebs Verlag, 1979.

Crill, Rosemary. Indian Ikat Textiles. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1998.

Fitz Gibbon, Kate, and Andrew Hale. Ikat: Silks of Central Asia. The Guido Goldman Collection. London: Laurence King, 1997.

Gittinger, Mattiebelle. Splendid Symbols: Textiles and Tradition in Indonesia. Washington, D.C.: The Textile Museum, 1979.

Maxwell, Robyn. Textiles of Southeast Asia: Tradition, Trade and Transformation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Nabholz-Kartaschoff, Marie-Louise. Ikatgewebe aus Nordund Südeuropa. Basler Beiträge zur Ethnologie Band 6. Basel, Switzerland: Pharos Verlag, 1969.

Tomita, Jun, and Noriko Tomita. Japanese Ikat Weaving. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982.

Zerrnickel, Maria "The Textile Arts of Uzbekistan." In Uzbekistan: Heirs to the Silk Road. Edited by Johannes Kalter and Margareta Pavaloi. London: Thames and Hudson, Inc. 1997.

Story of Ikat

 The Story Of Ikat

 

India can be termed as the homeland of myriad fabrics and textiles designed in luminous hues and patterns. One of these many textiles is Ikat - a handwoven fabric whose charm and versatility allows year-round comfort. However, there's more to it than meets the eye! Did you know that making Ikat is an extremely labour intensive and intricate process? Let's find out more!

 

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 History

The technique of making Ikat, known as ‘Ikkat’ has its origins from around the world, including South East Asia, South America and West Africa. It’s an ancient art that was derived from the Malay word, ‘Mengikat’ which means to tie. 19th & 20th-century evidence indicates that circa 200 years ago, Asia started producing high-quality ikat textiles.

 

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 Production

 

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The core fabrics used for producing ikat are silk & cotton, and the process used is called 'resist dyeing'. Warps and weft threads are interspersed such that the dye colours don't get mixed. These are then fastened on a wooden frame and put for dyeing. Then comes the intricate weaving method that converts the yarns into a beautiful fabric. Colours are derived from plants and trees that dye the fabric in eye-catching hues and patterns. The designs are made with vertical symmetry which results in a similar pattern on the sides.   

 

Types of Ikat Weaves

 

Warp Ikat

In warp ikat, the warp threads are dyed, and weft yarns are woven. The patterns are quite visible on the warp lay.

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Weft Ikat

Weft ikat method is more complex than warp ikat. Here, the weft threads are ikat dyed first, and the pattern starts appearing with the weaving process. This process forms erratic designs, and the yarns are re-adjusted, forming patterns deftly in horizontal lines.

 

Double Ikat

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Double Ikat is a labour and time intensive technique which is first hand dyed and then weaved. It’s done with both weft and warp yarns. Sarees like Pochampally and Puttapaka feature double ikat motifs.

 

Modern Day

In India, ikat is seen in three states - Gujarat, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. Many high street fashion brands have utilised this fabric and replicated the same in their designs. Not limited to traditional outfits, ikat is now also used in home decor items like bedsheets, cushions and carpets.

 

Maintenance

 

A gentle hand wash in cold water is an ideal way to keep your ikat in pristine condition.

 

Trivia

1. Since the production process is quite complex, it has been termed as 'Poetry of the Loom.'

2. The bleed and blurry lines on ikat are intentional to make it look appealing. 

3. In ancient times, ikat was a symbol of wealth.

4. Japan has mastered the technique of Indigo ikat that no one has been able to imitate so far.

 

ikat blurry lines

 Source - (Blurry Lines of Ikat)

 

Ikat

 Ikat (in Indonesian languages means "bind") is a dyeing technique originated from Indonesia used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.

Ikat

A typical Torajan ikat funeral shroud (porilonjong), Sulawesi, Indonesia
Material	cotton, silk, silk cotton
Place of origin	Indonesia
Manufacturer	Indonesian

In ikat, the resist is formed by binding individual yarns or bundles of yarns with a tight wrapping applied in the desired pattern. The yarns are then dyed. The bindings may then be altered to create a new pattern and the yarns dyed again with another colour. This process may be repeated multiple times to produce elaborate, multicolored patterns. When the dyeing is finished all the bindings are removed and the yarns are woven into cloth. In other resist-dyeing techniques such as tie-dye and batik the resist is applied to the woven cloth, whereas in ikat the resist is applied to the yarns before they are woven into cloth. Because the surface design is created in the yarns rather than on the finished cloth, in ikat both fabric faces are patterned.

A characteristic of ikat textiles is an apparent "blurriness" to the design. The blurriness is a result of the extreme difficulty the weaver has lining up the dyed yarns so that the pattern comes out perfectly in the finished cloth. The blurriness can be reduced by using finer yarns or by the skill of the craftsperson. Ikats with little blurriness, multiple colours and complicated patterns are more difficult to create and therefore often more expensive. However, the blurriness that is so characteristic of ikat is often prized by textile collectors.

Ikat also produced in many traditional textile centres around the world, including India to Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Japan (where it is called kasuri), Africa, and Latin America. Double ikats—in which both the warp and weft yarns are tied and dyed before being woven into a single textile—are relatively rare because of the intensive skilled labour required to produce them.

EtymologyEdit

Ikat is an Indonesian word, which depending on context, can be the nouns: cord, thread, knot, or bundle,^[1] also the finished ikat fabric, as well as the verbs "to tie" or "to bind". While the term ikatan is a noun for bond or tie.^[2] It has a direct etymological relation to Japanese of the same word, and also various Indonesian languages from Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Bali, Sulawesi, Sumba, Flores and Timor. Thus, the name of the finished ikat woven fabric originates from the tali (threads, ropes) being ikat (tied, bound, knotted) before they are being put in celupan (dyed by way of dipping), then berjalin (woven, intertwined) resulting in a berjalin ikat- reduced to ikat.

The introduction of the term ikat into European language is attributed to Rouffaer.^[3] Ikat is now a generic English loanword used to describe the process and the cloth itself regardless of where the fabric was produced or how it is patterned.

In Indonesian, the plural of ikat remains ikat. While in English, a suffix plural 's' is commonly added, as in ikats. However, these term are interchangeably used and correct.

HistoryEdit

The Banton Burial Cloth, the oldest existing example of warp ikat in Southeast Asia, displayed at the National Museum of the Philippines. The cloth was found in the sacred Ipot cave of Romblon.

The term "ikat" has Indonesian and Malay origin, and it was introduced into European textile vocabulary back in the early 20th century, when Dutch scholars begin to study the rich textile traditions of the Dutch East Indies archipelago (present-day Indonesia).^[4]

Some parts of Asia demonstrate strong ikat traditions which suggest its possible origin; whether they are Maritime Southeast Asia (Dutch East Indies archipelago), the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia.^[4] However, it probably developed in several different locations independently.

Uyghurs call it atlas (IPA [ɛtlɛs]) and use it only for woman's clothing. The historical record indicates that there were 27 types of atlas during Qing Chinese occupation. Now there are only four types of Uyghur atlas remaining: qara-atlas, a black ikat used for older women's clothing; khoja'e-atlas, a yellow, blue, or purple ikat used for married women; qizil-atlas, a red ikat used for girls; and Yarkent-atlas, a khan or royal atlas.

Yarkent-atlas has more diverse styles; during the Yarkent Khanate (1514–1705), there were ten different styles of Yarkent-atlas.^[5]

TypesEdit

Detail of a classic Gujarati patola of double ikat from the early 19th century. LACMA textile collections.

In warp ikat it is only the warp yarns that are dyed using the ikat technique. The weft yarns are dyed a solid colour. The ikat pattern is clearly visible in the warp yarns wound onto the loom even before the weft is woven in. Warp ikat is, amongst others, produced in Indonesia; more specifically in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Sumatra by respectively the Dayaks, Torajans and Bataks.^[6]

In weft ikat it is the weaving of weft yarn that carries the dyed patterns. Therefore, the pattern only appears as the weaving proceeds. Weft ikats are much slower to weave than warp ikat because the weft yarns must be carefully adjusted after each passing of the shuttle to maintain the clarity of the design.

Double Ikat is a technique in which both warp and the weft are resist-dyed prior to weaving. Obviously it is the most difficult to make and the most expensive. Double ikat is only produced in three countries: India, Japan and Indonesia. The double ikat made in Patan, Gujarat in India is the most complicated. Called "patola," it is made using fine silk yarns and many colours. It may be patterned with a small motif that is repeated many times across the length of a six-meter sari. Sometimes the Patan double ikat is pictorial with no repeats across its length. That is, each small design element in each colour was individually tied in the warp and weft yarns. It's an extraordinary achievement in the textile arts. These much sought after textiles were traded by the Dutch East Indies company for exclusive spice trading rights with the sultanates of Indonesia. The double ikat woven in the small Bali Aga village, Tenganan in east Bali^[7] in Indonesia reflects the influence of these prized textiles. Some of the Tenganan double ikat motifs are taken directly from the patola tradition. In India double ikat is also woven in Puttapaka, Nalgonda District and is called Puttapaka Saree.^[8] In Japan, double ikat is woven in the Okinawa islands where it is called tate-yoko gasuri.^[9]

Pasapali Ikat is one of the Ikat saree and Pasapali sari made in Odisha. The word Pasapalli comes from 'Pasa' which means a board game with four clear parts (much like Ludo). Each Pasapali ikat saree or material - which is made with the same technique as the Sambalpuri Ikat - has some or the other form of this chequered design.^[10]

DistributionEdit

A child wearing an ikat robe, Samarkand 19th century. Children often wore small versions of adult clothing.^[11]

Ikat is a resist dyeing technique common to many world cultures. It is probably one of the oldest forms of textile decoration. However, it is most prevalent in Indonesia, India and Japan. In South America, Central and North America, ikat is still common in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico, respectively.

In the 19th century, the Silk Road desert oases of Bukhara, Samarkand, Hotan and Kashgar (in what is now Uzbekistan and Xinjiang in Central Asia) were famous for their fine silk Uzbek/Uyghur ikat.

India, Japan, Indonesia and many other Southeast Asian nations including Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines and Thailand have weaving cultures with long histories of ikat resist dyeing.

Double ikat textiles are still found in India, Japan and Indonesia. In Indonesia ikat textiles are produced throughout the islands from Sumarta in the west to Timor in the east and Kalimantan and Sulawesi in the north. Ikat is also found in Iran, where the Persian name is daraee. Daraee means wealth, and this fabric is often included in a bride's dowry during wedding ceremonies; and the people who buy these fabrics were rich.

ProductionEdit

Warp ikatEdit

Learn more This section does not cite any sources. (May 2014)

Young woman from Kambera, Sumba, wearing an ikat garment and with the warp for a cloth tied and ready for dying. 1931

A tricolor warp Ikat weave from Tenancingo, Mexico

Ikat created by dyeing the warps (warp ikat) is simpler to make than either weft ikat or double ikat. First the yarns--cotton, silk, wool or other fibres—are wound onto a tying frame. Then they are separated into bundles. As the binding process is very labor-intensive an effort is made to reduce the work to a minimum by folding the thread bundles like in paper dolls and binding a basic ikat motif (BIM) that will be repeated like in paper dolls when the threads are unfolded for weaving after the dyeing is completed. The thread bundles may be folded around a vertical and/or horizontal axis. The bundles may be covered with wax, as in batik. (However, in making batik, the crafts person applies the resist to the finished cloth rather than to the yarns to be woven.) The warp yarns are then wrapped tightly with thread or some other dye-resistant material with the desired pattern so as to prevent unwanted dye penetration. The procedure is repeated, according to the number of colours required to complete the design. Multiple coloration is common, requiring multiple rounds of tying and dyeing. After the dyeing is finished the bindings are removed and the threads are wound onto the loom as the warp (longitudinal yarns). The threads are adjusted to precisely align the motifs and thin bamboo strips are lashed to the threads to prevent them from tangling or slipping out of alignment during weaving.

Some ikat traditions, such as Central Asia's, embrace a blurred aesthetic in the design. Other traditions favour a more precise and more difficult to achieve alignment of the ikat yarns. South American and Indonesian ikats are known for a high degree of warp alignment. Weavers carefully adjust the warp threads when they are placed on the loom so the patterns appear clearly. Thin strips of bamboo are then lashed to the warps to maintain the pattern alignment during weaving.

Patterns are visible in the warp threads even before the weft, a plain colored thread, is woven in. Some warp ikat traditions are designed with vertical-axis symmetry or have a "mirror-image" running along their long centre line. That is, whatever pattern or design is woven on the right is duplicated on the left in reverse order about a central warp thread group. Patterns can be created in the vertical, horizontal or diagonal.

Weft ikatEdit

Learn more This section does not cite any sources. (May 2014)

Weft ikat uses resist-dyeing for the weft yarns. The movement of the weft yarns in the weaving process means precisely delineated patterns are more difficult to achieve. The weft yarn must be adjusted after each passing of the shuttle to preserve the clarity of the patterns.

Nevertheless, highly skilled artisans can produce precise weft ikat. Japanese weavers produce very accurate indigo and white weft ikat with small scale motifs in cotton. Weavers in Odisha, India have replicated fine patterns in weft ikat. In Thailand, weavers make silk sarongs depicting birds and complex geometrical designs in seven-colour weft ikat.

In some precise weft ikat traditions (Gujarat, India), two artisans weave the cloth: one passes the shuttle and the other adjusts the way the yarn lies in the shed.

As the weft is a continuous strand, aberrations or variations in the weaving tension are cumulative. Some weft ikat traditions incorporate this affect into their aesthetic. Patterns become transformed by the weaving process into irregular and erratic designs. Guatemalan ikat is well-noted for its beautiful "blurs."

Double ikatEdit

Further information: Patola Sari

This is a man's, silk, tapestry woven headcloth from Jolo Island in the Southern Philippines and not an ikat or double ikat textile. It does not belong on this page as it is not an example of ikat.

Double ikat is created by resist-dyeing both the warp and weft prior to weaving.^[12] Some sources use the term double ikat only when the warp and weft patterning overlap to form common, identical motifs. If they do not, the result is referred to as compound ikat.^[13]

This form of weaving requires the most skill for precise patterns to be woven and is considered the premiere form of ikat. The amount of labour and skill required also make it the most expensive, and many poor quality cloths flood the tourist markets. Indian and Indonesian examples typify highly precise double ikat. Especially prized are the double ikats woven in silk known in India as patola (singular: patolu). These are from Khambat, Gujarat. During the colonial era, Dutch merchants used patola as prestigious trade cloths during the peak of the spice trade.^[14]

In Indonesia double ikat is only woven in the Bali Aga village of Tenganan. These cloths have high spiritual significance. In Tenganan they are still worn for specific ceremonies. Outside Tenganan, geringsing are treasured as they are purported to have magical powers.^[7]

The double ikat of Japan is woven in the Okinawa islands and is called tate-yoko gasuri.^[9]

Sambalpuri double ikat weaving loom (Tanta) from Odisha known as Odisha Ikat.

Double ikat Sambalpuri sari, India

Pochampally Saree, a variety from a small village in Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India is known for silk saris woven in the double Ikat.^{[citation needed]}

The Puttapaka Saree^[15] is made in Puttapaka village, Samsthan Narayanpuram mandal in Nalgonda district, India. It is known for its unique style of silk saris. The symmetric design is over 200 years old. The Ikat is warp-based. The Puttapaka Saree is a double ikat.

Before the weaving is done, a manual winding of yarn, called Asu, needs to be performed. This process takes up to five hours per sari and is usually done by the womenfolk, who suffer physical strain through constantly moving their hands back and forth over 9000 times for each sari. In 1999, a young weaver C Mallesham developed a machine which automated Asu, thus developing a technological solution for a decades-old unsolved problem.^[16]

ŌshimaEdit

Ōshima ikat is a uniquely Japanese ikat. In Amami Ōshima, the warp and weft threads are both used as warp to weave stiff fabric, upon which the thread for the ikat weaving is spot-dyed. Then the mats are unravelled and the dyed thread is woven into Ōshima cloth.^{[citation needed]}

The Ōshima process is duplicated in Java and Bali, and is reserved for ruling royalty, notably Klungkung and Ubud: most especially the dodot cloth semi-cummerbund of Javanese court attire.^{[citation needed]}

Other countriesEdit

Ikat abr, silk and cotton, mid-19th century, Uzbekistan. Smithsonian collections.

CambodiaEdit

The Cambodian ikat is a weft ikat woven of silk on a multi-shaft loom with an uneven twill weave, which results in the weft threads showing more prominently on the front of the fabric than the back.^[17][18]

By the 19th century, Cambodian ikat was considered among the finest textiles of the world. When the King of Thailand came to the US in 1856, he brought as a gift for President Franklin Pierce fine Cambodian ikat cloth.^[19] The most intricately patterned of the Cambodian fabrics are the sampot hol—skirts worn by the women—and the pidans—wall hangings used to decorate the pagoda or the home for special ceremonies.

Unfortunately, Cambodian culture suffered massive disruption and destruction during the mid-20th century Indochina wars but most especially during the Khmer Rouge regime. Most weavers were killed and the whole art of Cambodian ikat was in danger of disappearing.

Kikuo Morimoto is a prominent pioneer in re-introducing ikat to Cambodia. In 1995, he moved from Japan and located one or two elderly weavers and Khmer Rouge survivors who knew the art and have taught it to a new generation.

ThailandEdit

In Thailand, the local weft ikat type of woven cloth is known as Matmi (also spelled 'Mudmee' or 'Mudmi').^[20] Traditional Mudmi cloth was woven for daily use among the nobility. Other uses included ceremonial costumes. Warp ikat in cotton is also produced by the Karen and Lawa tribal peoples in northern Thailand.

This type of cloth is the favourite silk item woven by Khmer people living in southern Isan, mainly in Surin, Sisaket and Buriram provinces.^[21]

IranEdit

Ikat making in Yazd, Iran

In Iran, ikat, known by the name darayee, has been woven in different areas. In Yazd, there are some workshops that produce it. It is said that this kind of cloth historically used to be included in a bride's dowry. In popular culture, there is a quote that states that people who bought this type of cloth were wealthy.^[22]

Latin AmericaEdit

Artisan-made purses and shoes with ikat dyed fabric for sale in Malinalco, EdoMex, Mexico. The rapacejos (fringes) seen on the bottom right purse are characteristic of rebozos and can be quite intricately woven.

A young woman in Guatemala in the Highlands, wearing ikat clothing

Ikat patterns are common among the Andes peoples, and native people of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. The Mapuche shawl or poncho of the Huaso cowboys of Chile is perhaps the item best known in the West. Wool and cabuya fibre are the most commonly used. India: In India Ikat art is present since thousands of years . Now also some parts of India this Ikat processed cloth like saree and kurtis are much popular . bedsheet, door screen, towels are also much preferred one.

The Mexican rebozos can be made from silk, wool or cotton and are frequently ikat dyed. These shawls are seen as a part of the Mexican national identity and most women own at least one.

Latin American ikat (Jaspe, as it is known to Maya weavers) textiles are commonly woven on a back-strap loom. Pre-dyed warp threads are a common item in traditional markets- saving the weaver much mess, expense, time and labour.^[23][24] A Latin American innovation which may also be employed elsewhere is to employ a round stick around which warp threads are wrapped in groups, thus allowing more precise control of the desired design.^[23] The "corte" is the typical wrap-skirt used worn by Guatemalan women.

AccreditationEdit

As of 2010, the government of the Republic of Indonesia announced it would pursue UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage accreditation for its ikat weaving, along with songket, and gamelan having successfully attained this UNESCO recognition for its wayang, batik and the kris.^[