Posts Tagged ‘Ikat’

Aug 15

Choosing the Right Textile Travel Tour

When traveling on the cloth road, chances are high you’ll be traveling with other kindred spirits. But how do you determine the right-fit textile travel tour for you? ClothRoads has always been very selective about who we note in our list, limiting it to those who offer textile-specific trips and→ Read more

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Feb 14

Tying Ikat Clouds in Uzbekistan

“To tie a cloud”. What an image this phrase conjures. In the town of Margilan, in the Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan, one can find many artisans who “tie clouds”–ikat weavers who, over the past 28 years since Soviet rule, have revitalized their heritage textile making. This valley is the center→ Read more

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Oct 04

Ikat The World Over

Handweaving of ikat cloth is not for sissies. The laborious and skillful process of resist-dyeing and weaving fine threads is not one quickly learned. Take me for instance–this resist-dyeing process has intrigued me since college when I spent a semester teaching myself warp ikat, studying whatever I could from the→ Read more

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Jul 06

A Textile Travel Find: Central Asian Quilts with Ikat

Every month when we publish our monthly calendar of world textile events, textile travel lust hits me. For the past two years, we’ve highlighted exhibits or events that align with ClothRoads’s mission of supporting indigenous textiles and artisans worldwide. And while we note exhibits in far-flung places of the world→ Read more

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Aug 17

A Textile Tour of Tribal Weaving in Indonesia

“The most exciting textile tour you are ever likely to find – the trip of a lifetime!” This is the lead sentence for the Tribal Weaving of the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia that hooked me this past May. Did it hook you? Indonesia has been at the top of→ Read more

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Apr 07

Jaspe: A Guatemalan Resist-Dyed Handwoven Cloth

Guatemalan resist-dyed fabric called jaspe should never be taken for granted. Yet I undervalued this handwoven cloth for many years until a recent visit to the homeland of jaspe in Salcajá, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.→ Read more

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Aug 06

Uzbekistan Ikats Then and Now

When asked to choose my favorite textile, I have difficulty in responding. Truth is, I have to say handwoven silk Uzbekistan ikats are at the top of the list, perhaps because I lived there for eight years. But their bold colors and patterns make wearing an ikat outfit intimidating, at→ Read more

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Mar 19

Kasuri and Indigo: Threads That Blur and Bind

Patterning in threads that blur. Indigo-and-white, naturally-dyed cloth with hand-woven designs. Cotton fabric so soft from years of wear that parts are threadbare. This kasuri yukata I wear has a story and I long to know it.→ Read more

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Oct 30

Woven Dreams of T’nalak Ikat

Strip, split, knot, design, tie, dye, weave, pound, iron. Each of these steps goes into the weaving of the exquisitely complex T’nalak, a resist-dyed (ikat) abaca fiber, which is backstrap woven by T’boli women in the southern Philippines.→ Read more

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Oct 24

Patan Patola: India’s Heirloom Double Ikats

As we neared the end of the narrow, dusty street in Patan, Gujarat, the quiet domestic scene belied the world-renowned workshop we sought.  A few women gathered on a first floor veranda to gossip and hang laundry while a chestnut vendor ambled by. Our destination, a modest building with a narrow corner→ Read more

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