What is ikat

Ikat fabrics are made around the world. While the basic technology of binding thread is a constant, particular techniques vary from region to region.

How they stretch out the yarn for binding, transfer a design to the thread and materials they use for wrapping vary widely. Regardless of where they are made though, they are always highly prized. Ikat is laborious and difficult work. Therefore, they are considered very precious wherever they are made. In cultures around they world, they are often used for very special occasions, such as ceremonies or religious rituals.

Real ikat is often prohibitively expensive for many consumers, but is an inspiration to designers. Many textile designers are inspired by ikat and its feathering edges. They often create designs with that featureing edge as a starting point, but ultimately produced in a less laborious technique. Jacquard weaving and print designs commonly translate this idea into patterns. The historical record indicates that there were 27 types of atlas during Qing occupation. Now there are only four types of Uyghur atlas remaining: Qara-atlas Darayi, black ikat used for older women's clothing , Khoja'e-atlas yellow, blue, purple ikat used for married women , Qizil-atlas red ikat used for girls and Yarkant-atlas Khan-atlas.

Yarkant-atlas has more diverse styles; during Yarkant Khanate 16th century , there ten different styles of Yarkant-atlas. Distribution Ikat is a weaving style 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. India, Japan, Indonesia and many other Southeast Asian nations including Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines and Thailand have weaving cultures with long histories of ikat production.

Double ikat weaving is still found in India, Japan and Indonesia. Oshima Oshima ikat is a uniquely Japanese ikat. In Oshima, 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 oshima cloth. The Oshima 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.

Cambodia 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. By the 19th century, Cambodian ikat was considered among the finest textiles of the world. Unfortunately, Cambodian culture suffered massive disruption and destruction during the midth 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 , he moved from Japan and located one or two old lady weavers and Khmer Rouge survivors who knew the art and have taught it to a new generation.

Thailand In Thailand, the local weft ikat type of woven cloth is known as Matmi also spelled 'Mudmee' or 'Mudmi'. 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 ethnic Khmer people living in southern Isaan, mainly in Surin, Sisaket and Buriram. Latin America 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. 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. 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.

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.

The "corte" is the typical wrap skirt used worn by Guatemalan women. Skip to content. Summary Ikat fabric is a dyeing technique used to create a distinct style of textile patterns. Ikat dyed silk warp, undyed cotton weft from Uzbekistan, Smithsonian Collections.

Ikat robes, Toronto Textile Museum. Indonesian ikat. Honolulu Museum of Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Ikat Robe. Jewish Children with their Teacher in Samarkand.

Early color photograph from Russia, created by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii as part of his work to document the Russian Empire from to Ikat robe. Detail from a Sumba hinggi. Ikat weave, dyed in natural colors showing a geko. Technique Ikat is produced in many traditional textile centres around the world, from India to Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Japan where it is called "kasuri" , Africa and Latin America. 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! 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. In warp ikat, the warp threads are dyed, and weft yarns are woven. The patterns are quite visible on the warp lay.

Australia and New Zealand combined are home to hundreds of millions of sheep. China, the United States, and India all produce large amounts of cotton. China remains the world leader in artificial textile production. Silk and wool are in the higher range of fabric costs with cotton in the mid-range.

Artificial fibers are, by far, the least expensive options, which has led to their widespread popularity. Some types of ikat are more intricate and beautiful than others. There are dozens of ways to weave and dye ikat. Some of these techniques follow ancestral guidelines that are still practiced today, and others involve heavy factory machinery with no inherent personality or culture whatsoever.

Mass-produced ikat is usually the cheapest with handmade fabric fetching a pretty penny. In warp ikat, the warp threads are dyed in ikat patterns, and the weft threads are dyed in a solid color. Weft ikat is the opposite of warp ikat—the patterned portion is the weft thread, and the warp thread is a single color. As the most complicated form of ikat, double ikat features both warp and weft threads that are ikat-dyed.

It is very tricky to make these two patterns overlap perfectly, so double ikat is more prized than other varieties. In one form or another, ikat has been made by practically every culture in the world. One of the main reasons for this difference is biodegradability; every natural fiber on the face of the Earth biodegrades and returns to the biosphere within years or less, but according to the best estimates available, it may take tens of thousands of years for petrochemical-based plastics to completely disappear from the environment.

Among the natural fibers, cotton is the most polluting. In addition to introducing genotoxins, xenoestrogens, and other harmful compounds into the surrounding environment, unsustainable farming practices also seed the soil with toxic heavy metals that will cause neurodegenerative disease for generations to come.

Wool and silk, on the other hand, are almost impossible to mess up. There are many types of wool, and some form taken from rare goats and rabbits, for instance, may never be truly sustainable. Run-of-the-mill merino wool, however, is easy to harvest organically, and sustainable practices help sheep and humans cooperate for the greater good better than ever before. Perhaps because they were created in defiance of natural law, artificial fibers and the natural environment have never mixed well.

For millennia, ikat has been made with safe, natural dyes that biodegrade easily without leaving any toxins behind. Petrochemical-based dyes, however, can be highly toxic to both human bodies and the environment.