Ikat what is

The pattern is made to the actual threads before being constructed into a fabric. Ikat is often only two colors, the color of the yarn and the color of the dye. However, many are made with multiple colors, making the process that much more laborious because you need to bind and dye color 1, then color 2, then color 3.

For example, in this fabric, the white is the color of the yarn. The designer would have bound the white areas first and then dyed the warp yellow.

The warp would then be stretched again and the yellow areas bound, then dyed red. The process repeated once more time for the darkest color.

When the dyed warp is eventually put on the loom, there is a general shifting and relaxing of the yarns. Inevitably, when the warp is put on the loom, there is a shifting. The edges move up and down slightly until the warp is tied on. This feathering edge is what makes these fabrics so unmistakable and instantly recognizable. More from Merriam-Webster on ikat Britannica. Get Word of the Day daily email! Test Your Vocabulary. Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way.

Love words? Need even more definitions? Just between us: it's complicated. Ask the Editors 'Everyday' vs. 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 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. 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. In fact, many other parts of India have their indigenous Ikat weaving techniques.

The latter, known as Patan Patola, is one of the rarest forms of double Ikat, which takes a lot of time and effort in dyeing and weaving. A different form of Patola ikat is made in Rajkot, Gujarat. In weft ikat it is the weaving or 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. 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.

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 in Indonesia reflects the influence of these prized textiles. Some of the Tenganan double ikat motifs are taken directly from the patola tradition.

Pasapalli Ikat is a one of the gorgeous Ikkat saree and Pasapalli ikat saree made in Odisha. The word Pasapalli comes from 'Pasa' which means a board game with four clear parts much like Ludo. Each pasapalli ikat saree or material - which is actually made with the same technique as the famed Sambalpuri Ikat - has some or the other form of this chequered design.

Ikat created by dyeing the warp are simpler to make than either weft ikat or double ikat. First the yarns--cotton, silk, wool or other fibres—are wound onto a frame. Then they are tied into bundles. The bundles may be covered with wax, as in batik.

However, in making batik, the craftsperson 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 to prevent unwanted dye permeation. The procedure is repeated, depending on the number of colours required to complete the design.

Multiple coloration is common, requiring multiple rounds of tying and dyeing. The newly dyed and thoroughly washed bundles are wound onto the loom to produce the warp longitudinal yarns. Warp threads are adjusted for the desired alignment for precise motifs. 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 refinement in the placement of the ikat yarns.

South American and Indonesian ikat are known for a high degree of warp alignment. Weavers must adjust the warp repeatedly to maintain pattern alignment. Maria Antoinette Evans Fund.

Arthur describes the process of how the highly prized double ikat cloth is produced in Indonesia:. The design is seen in the finished yarn goods, and is a result of the dyed warp yarns being woven with plain weft yarns, a process known as single ikat. When the warp and weft yarns are both resist dyed, an extremely complex form of double ikat results; these geringsing cloths are rare and are made only in Tenganan on Bali.

These cloths are the most highly prized Indonesian textiles. The intricacy of said ikat technique can be seen in this square Fig. There is a narrow crosswise border on each end with small repeating abstract geometric and floral motifs created with supplemental gold-wrapped thread and a similar border hand-stitched along each lengthwise edge. In some of his later collections, you can see how he incorporated a vividly colored ikat pattern in a traditional silohuette, creating a bold classic trench coat in a spring collection Fig.

In a more haute couture setting in , the designer intricately wove an ikat design into a floral pattern down the back of silk and wool jacquard gown Fig. As seen in these pieces, the designer incorporated or referenced ikats in several collections he designed for both Balmain and his own fashion label up until his death in Polychrome silk embroidery and silk taffeta; pants of silk shatung.

Sackler Gallery, ELS Collection of Annette de la Renta. Source: Smithsonian Institution. Ikat classic trench coat , Spring collection. Silk and cotton. Oscar de la Renta Collection. Ikat-patterned gown , Fall collection.