The magic of Ikat
We've added some beautiful silk Ikat bedspreads to our website. What is Ikat? Ikat is a complex weaving processes in which the weft or warp threads are resist dyed or tie dyed with bindings before the fabric is woven. In double Ikat both warp and weft threads are tie dyed.
The resulting fabric may have a characteristic slightly fuzzy edge to the design. Often the threads are tie dyed several times with different bindings to produce more complex patterns. Ikat is traditionally woven in many places including Afghanistan and Central Asia, Indonesia, Japan, China, India and South America. The etymology of the word Ikat traces back to Indonesia but many of these locations claim that Ikat weaving originated in their country.
Because of the complexity of the process it's not surprising that Ikat can be an expensive fabric, the almost magical nature of the process means that Ikat cloth is often imbued with magical or precious properties.
The patterns may be abstract or contain animals and people, or be geometric representations of mythical creatures. In these pieces elephants and people are included in the design. The four images above and below are details from the bedspreads we had in our Quilts and Bedspreads range.
