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GTL WDG-3A 14686 signifying its departure from Gundla pochampally hauling 57474 Bodhan - Mahbubnagar Passenger...
we had a great time with the TEAM HWS at Pochampally popularly known as "Silk City" of India. To know more about Pochampally click here
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we had a great time today with the TEAM HWS at Pochampally popularly known as "Silk City" of India. To know more about Pochampally click here
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BGKT WDP-4B 40031 cruising through mainline of Gundla Pochampally hauling 19713 Jaipur - Secunderabad Express....
GY WDP-4D 40220 cruising out of Gundla pochampally with 12794 Nizamabad - Tirupathi Rayalaseema Superfast Express....
GTL WDM-3D 11257 leads the twin charge for 17058 Secunderabad - Mumbai Devagiri Express to skip Gundla pochampally...
I took this shot at Pochampally weaving house where the weaver was busy in working on a sunday morning.
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MLY WDG-3A 13374 leads the twin charge for 17063 Manmad - Secunderabad Ajanta Express towards Gundla pochampally...
. . . in Double Ikat not only the warp gets pattern, so does the weft. This is much more time consuming and complicate.
________________________________________________
Ikat (in Indonesian languages means "bind") is a dyeing technique originating from Indonesia used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.
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 is 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, especially in lining up the weft patterns.
ETYMOLOGY
Ikat is an Indonesian word, which depending on context, can be the nouns: cord, thread, knot, or bundle, also the finished ikat fabric, as well as the verbs "to tie" or "to bind"; the term ikatan is a noun for bond or tie. It has a direct etymological relation to cognates in 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. 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.
HISTORY OF IKAT
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).
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. 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.
TYPES OF IKAT
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.
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 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. In Japan, double ikat is woven in the Okinawa islands where it is called tate-yoko gasuri.
DISTRIBUTION
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 Sumatra 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.
PRODUKTION
WARP IKAT
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 IKAT
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 IKAT
Double ikat is created by resist-dyeing both the warp and weft prior to weaving. 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.
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.
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.
The double ikat of Japan is woven in the Okinawa islands and is called tate-yoko gasuri.
Pochampally Saree, a variety from a small village in Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India is known for silk saris woven in the double Ikat.
The Puttapaka Saree 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.
ŌSHIMA
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.
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.
OTHER COUNTRIES
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. When the King of Thailand came to the US in 1856, he brought as a gift for President Franklin Pierce fine Cambodian ikat cloth.[18] 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.
THAILAND
In Thailand, the local weft ikat type of woven cloth is known as Matmi (also spelled 'Mudmee' or 'Mudmi'). 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.
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.
LATIN AMERICA
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. 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.
ACCREDITATION
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.
WIKIPEDIA
Met this elder in a village outside Hyderabad. He was curious to know why I was taking photographs. Reminded me of Lawrence of Arabia!
Ikat, or ikkat, is a dyeing technique used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.
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 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. They are produced in Okinawa islands of Japan, the village of Tenganan in Indonesia, and the villages of Puttapaka and Bhoodan Pochampally in Telangana and Gujarat in India.
TYPES
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.
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.
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. ouble 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. In India double ikat is also woven in Puttapaka, Nalgonda District and is called Puttapaka Saree. In Japan, double ikat is woven in the Okinawa islands where it is called tate-yoko gasuri.
ETYMOLOGY
Ikat is an Indonesian language word, which depending on context, can be the nouns: cord, thread, knot and the finished ikat fabric as well as the verbs "to tie" or "to bind". It has a direct etymological relation to Javanese language of the same word. 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. 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. However, in English a suffix plural 's' is commonly added, as in ikats. This is true in other some other languages. All are correct.
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. In Central and South America, ikat is still common in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico.
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 production.
Double ikat weaving is still found in India, Japan and Indonesia. In Indonesia, it is still woven in Bali, Java, Kalimantan or Borneo and Sumatra.
HISTORY
As textiles do not last well through history, scholars have so far been unable to determine where the technique of ikat originated. Nevertheless, some parts of Asia demonstrates strong ikat traditions which suggest its possible origin; they are Maritime Southeast Asia, Indian subcontinent and Central Asia. However, it probably developed in several different locations independently, since ikat was known to be produced in several pre-Columbian Central and South American cultures.
The term "ikat" has Indonesian origin, and it was introduced into European textile vocabulary back in early 20th century, when the Dutch scholars begin to study the rich textile traditions of East Indies archipelago (today Indonesia).
Uyghurs call it atlas (in IPA [ɛtlɛs]) and use it only for woman's clothing. 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.
PRODUCTION
WARP IKAT
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.
Patterns result from a combination of the warp dye and the weft thread colour. 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 IKAT
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 weave. The weft yarn must be adjusted after each passing of the shuttle to preserve the pattern.
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 Urdu script in weft ikat. In Thailand, weavers make very fine 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 commonly a continuous strand, aberrations or variation in coloration 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 IKAT
Double Ikat is created by resist-dyeing both the warp and weft prior to weaving.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 Gujarat (Cambay). During the colonial era, Dutch merchants used patola as prestigious trade cloths during the peak of the spice trade.
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.
The double ikat of Japan is woven in the Okinawa islands and is called tate-yoko gasuri.
Pochampally Sari, a variety from a small village in Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India is known for silk saris woven in the double Ikat.
The Puttapaka Saree 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 5 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.
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.
OTHER COUNTRIES
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. When the King of Thailand came to the US in 1856, he brought as a gift for President Franklin Pierce fine Cambodian ikat cloth. 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 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'). 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 ethnic Khmer people living in southern Isaan, mainly in Surin, Sisaket and Buriram.
LATIN AMERICA
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.
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. 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.
ACCREDITATION
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.
WIKIPEDIA
A Sari, saree, sadi, or shari is a South Asian female garment that consists of a drape varying from 4.5 metres to 8 metres in length and 60 cm to 1.20 m in breadth that is typically wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder, baring the midriff.
The sari is usually worn over a petticoat (called 'parkar' (परकर) in Marathi lahaṅgā or lehenga in the north; seelai in Tamil, pavada (or occasionally langa) in Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu, chaniyo, parkar, ghaghra, or ghagaro in the west; and shaya in eastern India), with a fitted upper garment commonly called a blouse (ravike in South India and choli elsewhere). The blouse has short sleeves and is usually cropped at the midriff. The sari is associated with grace and is widely regarded as a symbol of Indian, Nepalese, Bangladesh, and Sri Lankan cultures.
ETYMOLOGY
The word sari described in Sanskrit शाटी śāṭī which means 'strip of cloth' and शाडी śāḍī or साडी sāḍī in Prakrit, and which was corrupted to sāṛī in Hindi. The word 'Sattika' is mentioned as describing women's attire in ancient India in Buddhist Jain literature called Jatakas. This could be equivalent to modern day 'Sari'. The term for female bodice, the choli is derived from another ruling clan from ancient Tamil Nadu, the Cholas. Rajatarangini (meaning the 'river of kings'), a tenth-century literary work by Kalhana, states that the Choli from the Deccan was introduced under the royal order in Kashmir.
ORIGINS AND HISTORY
In the history of Indian clothing the sari is traced back to the Indus Valley Civilisation, which flourished during 2800–1800 BC around the western part of the Indian subcontinent. Sari draping leaves back, cleavage, and side view of belly bare. The origin of such exposing attire can be attributed to humid climate of the land. The earliest known depiction of the sari in the Indian subcontinent is the statue of an Indus Valley priest wearing a drape.
Ancient Tamil poetry, such as the Silappadhikaram and the Sanskrit work, Kadambari by Banabhatta, describes women in exquisite drapery or sari. The ancient stone inscription from Gangaikonda Cholapuram in old Tamil scripts has a reference to hand weaving. In ancient Indian tradition and the Natya Shastra (an ancient Indian treatise describing ancient dance and costumes), the navel of the Supreme Being is considered to be the source of life and creativity, hence the midriff is to be left bare by the sari.
Sculptures from the Gandhara, Mathura and Gupta schools (1st–6th century AD) show goddesses and dancers wearing what appears to be a dhoti wrap, in the "fishtail" version which covers the legs loosely and then flows into a long, decorative drape in front of the legs. No bodices are shown.
Other sources say that everyday costume consisted of a dhoti or lungi (sarong), combined with a breast band called 'Kurpasika' or 'Stanapatta' and occasionally a wrap called 'Uttariya' that could at times be used to cover the upper body or head. The two-piece Kerala mundum neryathum (mundu, a dhoti or sarong, neryath, a shawl, in Malayalam) is a survival of ancient Indian clothing styles. The one-piece sari is a modern innovation, created by combining the two pieces of the mundum neryathum.
It is generally accepted that wrapped sari-like garments for lower body and sometimes shawls or scarf like garment called 'uttariya' for upper body, have been worn by Indian women for a long time, and that they have been worn in their current form for hundreds of years. In ancient couture the lower garment was called 'nivi' or 'nivi bandha', while the upper body was mostly left bare. The works of Kalidasa mentions 'Kurpasika' a form of tight fitting breast band that simply covered the breasts. It was also sometimes referred to as 'Uttarasanga' or 'Stanapatta'.
The tightly fitted, short blouse worn under a sari is a choli. Choli evolved as a form of clothing in the 10th century AD, and the first cholis were only front covering; the back was always bare but covered with end of saris pallu. Bodices of this type are still common in the state of Rajasthan.
In South India and especially in Kerala, women from most Hindu communities wore only the sari and exposed the upper part of the body till the middle of the 20th century.Poetic references from works like Silappadikaram indicate that during the Sangam period in ancient Tamil Nadu, a single piece of clothing served as both lower garment and head covering, leaving the midriff completely uncovered. Similar styles of the sari are recorded paintings by Raja Ravi Varma in Kerala. By the mid 19th century, though, bare breasted styles of the sari faced social revaluation and led to the Upper cloth controversy in the princely state of Travancore (now part of the state of Kerala) and the styles declined rapidly within the next half a century.
In ancient India, although women wore saris that bared the midriff, the Dharmasastra writers stated that women should be dressed such that the navel would never become visible. By which for some time the navel exposure became a taboo and the navel was concealed.
Red wedding saris are the traditional garment choice for brides in Indian culture. Sari fabric is also traditionally silk. Over time, colour options and fabric choices for Indian brides have expanded. Today fabrics like crepe, Georgette, charmeuse, and satin are used, and colours have been expanded to include gold, pink, orange, maroon, brown, and yellow as well. Indian brides in Western countries often wear the sari at the wedding ceremony and change into traditional Indian wear afterwards (lehnga, choli, etc.).
STYLES OF DRAPING
There are more than 80 recorded ways to wear a sari. Fashion designer Aaditya sharma declared, "I can drape a sari in 54 different styles".
The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with the loose end of the drape to be worn over the shoulder, baring the midriff. However, the sari can be draped in several different styles, though some styles do require a sari of a particular length or form. The French cultural anthropologist and sari researcher Chantal Boulanger categorised sari drapes in the following families:
- Nivi – styles originally worn in Andhra Pradesh; besides the modern nivi, there is also the kaccha nivi, where the pleats are passed through the legs and tucked into the waist at the back. This allows free movement while covering the legs.
- Bengali and Odia style.
- Gujarati/Rajasthani/Pakistani – after tucking in the pleats similar to the nivi style, the loose end is taken from the back, draped across the right shoulder, and pulled across to be secured in the back
- Maharashtrian/Konkani/Kashta; this drape is very similar to that of the male Maharashtrian dhoti. The centre of the sari (held lengthwise) is placed at the centre back, the ends are brought forward and tied securely, then the two ends are wrapped around the legs. When worn as a sari, an extra-long cloth of nine yards is used and the ends are then passed up over the shoulders and the upper body. They are primarily worn by Brahmin women of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.
- Madisar – this drape is typical of Iyengar/Iyer Brahmin ladies from Tamil Nadu. Traditional Madisar is worn using 9 yards saree.
- Kodagu style – this drape is confined to ladies hailing from the Kodagu district of Karnataka. In this style, the pleats are created in the rear, instead of the front. The loose end of the sari is draped back-to-front over the right shoulder, and is pinned to the rest of the sari.
- Gobbe Seere – This style is worn by women in the Malnad or Sahyadri and central region of Karnataka. It is worn with 18 molas saree with three four rounds at the waist and a knot after crisscrossing over shoulders.
- Gond – sari styles found in many parts of Central India. The cloth is first draped over the left shoulder, then arranged to cover the body.
- Malayali style – the two-piece sari, or Mundum Neryathum, worn in Kerala. Usually made of unbleached cotton and decorated with gold or coloured stripes and/or borders. Also the Kerala sari, a sort of mundum neryathum.
- Tribal styles – often secured by tying them firmly across the chest, covering the breasts.
Kunbi style or denthli:Goan Gauda and Kunbis,and those of them who have migrated to other states use this way of draping Sari or Kappad, this form of draping is created by tying a knot in the fabric below the shoulder and a strip of cloth which crossed the left shoulder was fasten on the back.
NIVI STYLE
The nivi is today's most popular sari style from Andhra Pradesh. The increased interaction with the British saw most women from royal families come out of purdah in the 1900s. This necessitated a change of dress. Maharani Indira Devi of Cooch Behar popularised the chiffon sari. She was widowed early in life and followed the convention of abandoning her richly woven Baroda shalus in favour of the traditional unadorned white. Characteristically, she transformed her "mourning" clothes into high fashion. She had saris woven in France to her personal specifications, in white chiffon, and introduced the silk chiffon sari to the royal fashion repertoire.
The chiffon sari did what years of fashion interaction had not done in India. It homogenised fashion across this land. Its softness, lightness and beautiful, elegant, caressing drape was ideally suited to the Indian climate. Different courts adopted their own styles of draping and indigenising the sari. In most of the courts the sari was embellished with stitching hand-woven borders in goldfrom Varanasi, delicate zardozi work, gota, makaish and tilla work that embellished the plain fabric, simultaneously satisfying both traditional demands and ingrained love for ornamentation. Some images of maharanis in the Deccan show the women wearing a sleeveless, richly embellished waistcoat over their blouses. The Begum of Savanur remembers how sumptuous the chiffon sari became at their gatherings. At some courts it was worn with jaali, or net kurtas and embossed silk waist length sadris or jackets. Some of them were so rich that the entire ground was embroidered over with pearls and zardozi.
Nivi drape starts with one end of the sari tucked into the waistband of the petticoat, usually a plain skirt. The cloth is wrapped around the lower body once, then hand-gathered into even pleats below the navel. The pleats are tucked into the waistband of the petticoat. They create a graceful, decorative effect which poets have likened to the petals of a flower. After one more turn around the waist, the loose end is draped over the shoulder. The loose end is called the pallu, pallav, seragu, or paita depending on the language. It is draped diagonally in front of the torso. It is worn across the right hip to over the left shoulder, partly baring the midriff. The navel can be revealed or concealed by the wearer by adjusting the pallu, depending on the social setting. The long end of the pallu hanging from the back of the shoulder is often intricately decorated. The pallu may be hanging freely, tucked in at the waist, used to cover the head, or used to cover the neck, by draping it across the right shoulder as well. Some nivi styles are worn with the pallu draped from the back towards the front, coming from the back over the right shoulder with one corner tucked by the left hip, covering the torso/waist. The nivi sari was popularised through the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma. In one of his paintings, the Indian subcontinent was shown as a mother wearing a flowing nivi sari. The ornaments generally accepted by the Hindu culture that can be worn in the midriff region are the waist chains. They are considered to be a part of bridal jewellery.
PROFESSIONAL STYLE OF DRAPING
Because of the harsh extremes in temperature on the Indian Subcontinent, the sari fills a practical role as well as a decorative one. It is not only warming in winter and cooling in summer, but its loose-fitting tailoring is preferred by women who must be free to move as their duties require. For this reason, it is the clothing of choice of air hostesses on Air India. This led to a professional style of draping a sari which is referred to "Air-Hostess style sari". An air hostess style sari is tied in just the same way as a normal sari except that the pleats are held together quite nicely with the help of pins. A bordered sari will be just perfect for an Air-Hostess style drape where the pallu is heavily pleated and pinned on the shoulder. Even the vertical pleats that are tucked at the navel are severely pleated and pressed. Same goes for the pallu pleats that are pinned at the shoulder. To get the perfect "Air-hostess" a complimentary U-shaped blouse that covers the upper body completely is worn which gives a very elegant and formal look. Mastering the "Air-hostess" style drape helps to create the desired impact in a formal setting like an interview or a conference.
Saris are worn as uniforms by the female hotel staff of many five star luxury hotels in India as symbol of culture. Recently, in a makeover design, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, decided the welcoming staff at the group's Luxury Hotels would be draped in the rich colours and designs of the Banarasi six yards. The new saris were unveiled at the Taj property in Mumbai. It will be subsequently replicated at all 10 Luxury Hotels of the group across the country for duty managers and front office staff. Taj had adopted three villages in Varanasi and employed 25 master weavers there for the project. The vision finally took shape after 14 months, once the weavers had a good work environment, understood the designs and fine-tuned the motifs.
Similarly, the female politicians of India wear the sari in a professional manner. The women of Nehru–Gandhi family like Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi wear the special blouse for the campaign trail which is longer than usually and is tucked in to prevent any midriff show while waving to the crowds.Stylist Prasad Bidapa has to say, "I think Sonia Gandhi is the country's most stylish politician. But that's because she's inherited the best collection of saris from her mother-in-law. I'm also happy that she supports the Indian handloom industry with her selection." BJP politician Sushma Swaraj maintains her prim housewife look with a pinned-up pallu while general secretary of AIADMK Jayalalithaa wears her saris like a suit of armour.
SARIS IN INDIAN LAW
In 2014, an Indian family court in Mumbai ruled that a husband objecting to his wife wearing a kurta and jeans and forcing her to wear a sari amounts to cruelty inflicted by the husband and can be a ground to seek divorce. The wife was thus granted a divorce on the ground of cruelty as defined under section 27(1)(d) of Special Marriage Act, 1954.
BANGLADESH
Sharee or saree (in Bengali=শাড়ি) is the national wear of Bangladeshi women. Most women who are married wear sharee as their regular dress while young-unmarried girls wear sharee as an occasional dress. The shari is worn by women throughout Bangladesh. Sari is the most popular dress for women in Bangladesh, both for casual and formal occasion. Although Dhakai Jamdani (hand made shari) is worldwide known and most famous to all women who wear shari but there are also many variety of shari in Bangladesh.There are many regional variations of them in both silk and cotton. e.g.- Tanta/Tant cotton shari, Dhakai Benaroshi shari, Rajshahi silk shari, Tangail Tanter shari, Tassar silk shari, monipuri shari and Katan shari are the most popular in Bangladesh.
PAKISTAN
In Pakistan, the sarees are still popular and worn on special occasions. The Shalwar kameez, however, is worn throughout the country on a daily basis. The sari nevertheless remains a popular garment among the middle and upper class for many formal functions. Sarees can be seen worn commonly in metropolitan cities such as Karachi and Islamabad and are worn regularly to weddings and other business type of functions. Sarees are also worn by many Muslim women in Sindh to show their status or to enhance their beauty. The sari is worn as daily wear by Pakistani Hindus, by elderly Muslim women who were used to wearing it in pre-partition India and by some of the new generation who have reintroduced the interest in saris.
SRI LANKA
Sri Lankan women wear saris in many styles. Two ways of draping the sari are popular and tend to dominate: the Indian style (classic nivi drape) and the Kandyan style (or osaria in Sinhalese). The Kandyan style is generally more popular in the hill country region of Kandy from which the style gets its name. Though local preferences play a role, most women decide on style depending on personal preference or what is perceived to be most flattering for their figure.
The traditional Kandyan (osaria) style consists of a full blouse which covers the midriff completely and is partially tucked in at the front as is seen in this 19th-century portrait. However, modern intermingling of styles has led to most wearers baring the midriff. The final tail of the sari is neatly pleated rather than free-flowing. This is rather similar to the pleated rosette used in the Dravidian style noted earlier in the article.
The Kandyan style is considered the national dress of Sinhalese women. It is the uniform of the air hostesses of SriLankan Airlines.
During the 1960s, the mini sari known as 'hipster' sari created a wrinkle in Sri Lankan fashion, since it was worn below the navel and barely above the line of prosecution for indecent exposure. The conservative people described the 'hipster' as "an absolute travesty of a beautiful costume almost a desecration" and "a hideous and purposeless garment".
NEPAL
The sari is the most commonly worn women's clothing in Nepal. In Nepal, a special style of sari draping is called haku patasihh. The sari is draped around the waist and a shawl is worn covering the upper half of the sari, which is used in place of a pallu.
AFGHANISTAN
Sari's have been worn by the Afghan royal family house and upper family classes as well by Muslim women at special functions.
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES WITH OTHER ASIAN CLOTHING
While the sari is typical to Indian traditional wear, clothing worn by South-East Asian countries like Burma, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore resemble it, where a long rectangular piece of cloth is draped around the body. These are different from the sari as they are wrapped around the lower-half of body as a skirt, worn with a shirt/blouse, resembling a sarong, as seen in the Burmese Longyi, Filipino Malong, Tapis, Laotian Xout lao, Thai Sinh's, and Timorese Tais. Saris, worn predominantly in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal are usually draped with one end of the cloth fastened around the waist, and the other end placed over the shoulder baring the midriff.
SAREE ORNAMENTATION AND DECORATIVE ACCESSORIES
Saris are woven with one plain end (the end that is concealed inside the wrap), two long decorative borders running the length of the sari, and a one to three-foot section at the other end which continues and elaborates the length-wise decoration. This end is called the pallu; it is the part thrown over the shoulder in the nivi style of draping.
In past times, saris were woven of silk or cotton. The rich could afford finely woven, diaphanous silk saris that, according to folklore, could be passed through a finger ring. The poor wore coarsely woven cotton saris. All saris were handwoven and represented a considerable investment of time or money.
Simple hand-woven villagers' saris are often decorated with checks or stripes woven into the cloth. Inexpensive saris were also decorated with block printing using carved wooden blocks and vegetable dyes, or tie-dyeing, known in India as bhandani work.
More expensive saris had elaborate geometric, floral, or figurative ornaments or brocades created on the loom, as part of the fabric. Sometimes warp and weft threads were tie-dyed and then woven, creating ikat patterns. Sometimes threads of different colours were woven into the base fabric in patterns; an ornamented border, an elaborate pallu, and often, small repeated accents in the cloth itself. These accents are called buttis or bhuttis (spellings vary). For fancy saris, these patterns could be woven with gold or silver thread, which is called zari work.
Sometimes the saris were further decorated, after weaving, with various sorts of embroidery. Resham work is embroidery done with coloured silk thread. Zardozi embroidery uses gold and silver thread, and sometimes pearls and precious stones. Cheap modern versions of zardozi use synthetic metallic thread and imitation stones, such as fake pearls and Swarovski crystals.
In modern times, saris are increasingly woven on mechanical looms and made of artificial fibres, such as polyester, nylon, or rayon, which do not require starching or ironing. They are printed by machine, or woven in simple patterns made with floats across the back of the sari. This can create an elaborate appearance on the front, while looking ugly on the back. The punchra work is imitated with inexpensive machine-made tassel trim.
Hand-woven, hand-decorated saris are naturally much more expensive than the machine imitations. While the overall market for handweaving has plummeted (leading to much distress among Indian handweavers), hand-woven saris are still popular for weddings and other grand social occasions.
SARI OUTSIDE SOUTH ASIA
The traditional sari made an impact in the United States during the 1970s. Eugene Novack who ran the New York store, Royal Saree House told that he had been selling it mainly to the Indian women in New York area but later many American business women and housewives became his customers who preferred their saris to resemble the full gown of the western world. He also said that men appeared intrigued by the fragility and the femininity it confers on the wearer. Newcomers to the sari report that it is comfortable to wear, requiring no girdles or stockings and that the flowing garb feels so feminine with unusual grace.
As a nod to the fashion-forward philosophy established by the designs of Emilio Pucci, the now-defunct Braniff International Airways envisioned their air hostesses wearing a more revealing version of a sari on a proposed Dallas-Bombay (conceivably via London) service in the late 1970s. However this was never realised because of Halston's resistance to working with a palette outside of his comfort zone. The former Eagan, Minnesota–based Northwest Airlines considered issuing saris to flight attendants working the Minneapolis-Amsterdam-Delhi route that began in the 1990s. This never occurred largely because of a union dispute.
The sari has gained its popularity internationally because of the growth of Indian fashion trends globally. Many Bollywood celebrities, like Aishwarya Rai,[48] have worn it at international events representing the Indian culture. In 2010, Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone wanted to represent her country at an international event, wearing the national costume. On her very first red carpet appearance at the Cannes International Film Festival, she stepped out on the red carpet in a Rohit Bal sari.
Even popular Hollywood celebrities have worn this traditional attire. Pamela Anderson made a surprise guest appearance on Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother, dressed in a sari that was specially designed for her by Mumbai-based fashion designer Ashley Rebello. Ashley Judd donned a purple sari at the Youth AIDS Benefit Gala in November 2007 at the Ritz Carlton in Mclean, Virginia. There was an Indian flavour to the red carpet at the annual Fashion Rocks concert in New York, with designer Rocky S walking the ramp along with Jessica, Ashley, Nicole, Kimberly and Melody – the Pussycat Dolls – dressed in saris.
TYPES
While an international image of the modern style sari may have been popularised by airline stewardesses, each region in the Indian subcontinent has developed, over the centuries, its own unique sari style. Following are other well-known varieties, distinct on the basis of fabric, weaving style, or motif, in South Asia:
CENTRAL STYLES
Chanderi Sari – Madhya Pradesh
Maheshwari – Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh
Kosa Silk – Chhattisgarh
Dhokra Silk – Madhya Pradesh
EASTERN STYLES
Tangail Tant Saree – Bangladesh
Jamdani – Bangladesh
Muslin – Bangladesh
Rajshahi Silk (Eri Silk) – Bangladesh
Tussar Silk Saree – Rajshahi Bangladesh
Dhakai Katan – Bangladesh
Khadi Saree – Comilla Bangladesh
Jute Cotton – Bangladesh
Mooga Silk – Assam
Mekhla Cotton – Assam
Dhaniakhali Cotton – West Bengal
Shantipuri Cotton – Shantipur, West Bengal
Phulia Cotton – Phulia, West Bengal
Begumpur Cotton – Begumpur, West Bengal
Garad Saree (Korial) – Murshidabad, West Bengal
Tant Saree – Farshganj, West Bengal
Murshidabad Silk – West Bengal
Baluchari Silk – Bishnupur, Bankura West Bengal
Kantha Silk & Cotton Saree – West Bengal & Bangladesh
Batic Saree – West Bengal & Bangladesh
Sambalpuri Silk & Cotton Saree – Sambalpur, Odisha
Bomkai Silk & Cotton Saree – Bomkai, Ganjam, Odisha
Khandua Silk & Cotton Saree – Nuapatna, Cuttack, Odisha
Sonepuri Silk & Cotton Saree – Subarnapur, Odisha
Berhampuri Silk – Behrampur, Odisha
Mattha Silk Saree – Mayurbhanj, Odisha
Bapta Silk & Cotton Saree – Koraput, Odisha
Tanta Cotton Saree – Balasore, Odisha
Manipuri Tant Saree - Manipur
WESTERN STYLES
Paithani – Maharashtra
Bandhani – Gujarat, Rajasthan, Pakistan
Kota doria – Rajasthan, Pakistan
Lugade – Maharashtra
Patola – Gujarat, Pakistan
SOUTHERN STYLES
Mysore Silk – Karnataka
Ilkal Saree – Karnataka
Molakalmuru Sari – Karnataka
Venkatagiri – Andhra Pradesh
Mangalagiri Silk Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Uppada Silk Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Chirala Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Bandar Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Bandarulanka – Andhra Pradesh
Kuppadam Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Dharmavaram Silk Saree – Andhra pradesh
Kanchipuram Sari (locally called Kanjivaram Pattu) – Tamil Nadu
Kumbakonam – Tamil Nadu
Thirubuvanam – Tamil Nadu
Coimbatore Cotton Tamil Nadu
Chinnalampattu or Sungudi Tamil Nadu
Balarampuram – Kerala
Mundum Neriyathum – Kerala
Mayilati Silk – Kerala
Kannur Cotton – Kerala
Kalpathi Silk Sarees – Kerala
Maradaka Silk – Kerala
Samudrikapuram Silk and Cotton – Kerala
Pochampally Sari or Puttapaka Sari – Telangana
Gadwal Sari – Telangana
Narayanpet – Telangana or Maharashtra
NORTHERN STYLES
Banarasi – Uttar Pradesh
Shalu – Uttar Pradesh
Tanchoi – Uttar Pradesh
Bagru – Rajasthan, Pakistan
WIKIPEDIA
A Sari, saree, sadi, or shari is a South Asian female garment that consists of a drape varying from 4.5 metres to 8 metres in length and 60 cm to 1.20 m in breadth that is typically wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder, baring the midriff.
The sari is usually worn over a petticoat (called 'parkar' (परकर) in Marathi lahaṅgā or lehenga in the north; seelai in Tamil, pavada (or occasionally langa) in Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu, chaniyo, parkar, ghaghra, or ghagaro in the west; and shaya in eastern India), with a fitted upper garment commonly called a blouse (ravike in South India and choli elsewhere). The blouse has short sleeves and is usually cropped at the midriff. The sari is associated with grace and is widely regarded as a symbol of Indian, Nepalese, Bangladesh, and Sri Lankan cultures.
ETYMOLOGY
The word sari described in Sanskrit शाटी śāṭī which means 'strip of cloth' and शाडी śāḍī or साडी sāḍī in Prakrit, and which was corrupted to sāṛī in Hindi. The word 'Sattika' is mentioned as describing women's attire in ancient India in Buddhist Jain literature called Jatakas. This could be equivalent to modern day 'Sari'. The term for female bodice, the choli is derived from another ruling clan from ancient Tamil Nadu, the Cholas. Rajatarangini (meaning the 'river of kings'), a tenth-century literary work by Kalhana, states that the Choli from the Deccan was introduced under the royal order in Kashmir.
ORIGINS AND HISTORY
In the history of Indian clothing the sari is traced back to the Indus Valley Civilisation, which flourished during 2800–1800 BC around the western part of the Indian subcontinent. Sari draping leaves back, cleavage, and side view of belly bare. The origin of such exposing attire can be attributed to humid climate of the land. The earliest known depiction of the sari in the Indian subcontinent is the statue of an Indus Valley priest wearing a drape.
Ancient Tamil poetry, such as the Silappadhikaram and the Sanskrit work, Kadambari by Banabhatta, describes women in exquisite drapery or sari. The ancient stone inscription from Gangaikonda Cholapuram in old Tamil scripts has a reference to hand weaving. In ancient Indian tradition and the Natya Shastra (an ancient Indian treatise describing ancient dance and costumes), the navel of the Supreme Being is considered to be the source of life and creativity, hence the midriff is to be left bare by the sari.
Sculptures from the Gandhara, Mathura and Gupta schools (1st–6th century AD) show goddesses and dancers wearing what appears to be a dhoti wrap, in the "fishtail" version which covers the legs loosely and then flows into a long, decorative drape in front of the legs. No bodices are shown.
Other sources say that everyday costume consisted of a dhoti or lungi (sarong), combined with a breast band called 'Kurpasika' or 'Stanapatta' and occasionally a wrap called 'Uttariya' that could at times be used to cover the upper body or head. The two-piece Kerala mundum neryathum (mundu, a dhoti or sarong, neryath, a shawl, in Malayalam) is a survival of ancient Indian clothing styles. The one-piece sari is a modern innovation, created by combining the two pieces of the mundum neryathum.
It is generally accepted that wrapped sari-like garments for lower body and sometimes shawls or scarf like garment called 'uttariya' for upper body, have been worn by Indian women for a long time, and that they have been worn in their current form for hundreds of years. In ancient couture the lower garment was called 'nivi' or 'nivi bandha', while the upper body was mostly left bare. The works of Kalidasa mentions 'Kurpasika' a form of tight fitting breast band that simply covered the breasts. It was also sometimes referred to as 'Uttarasanga' or 'Stanapatta'.
The tightly fitted, short blouse worn under a sari is a choli. Choli evolved as a form of clothing in the 10th century AD, and the first cholis were only front covering; the back was always bare but covered with end of saris pallu. Bodices of this type are still common in the state of Rajasthan.
In South India and especially in Kerala, women from most Hindu communities wore only the sari and exposed the upper part of the body till the middle of the 20th century.Poetic references from works like Silappadikaram indicate that during the Sangam period in ancient Tamil Nadu, a single piece of clothing served as both lower garment and head covering, leaving the midriff completely uncovered. Similar styles of the sari are recorded paintings by Raja Ravi Varma in Kerala. By the mid 19th century, though, bare breasted styles of the sari faced social revaluation and led to the Upper cloth controversy in the princely state of Travancore (now part of the state of Kerala) and the styles declined rapidly within the next half a century.
In ancient India, although women wore saris that bared the midriff, the Dharmasastra writers stated that women should be dressed such that the navel would never become visible. By which for some time the navel exposure became a taboo and the navel was concealed.
Red wedding saris are the traditional garment choice for brides in Indian culture. Sari fabric is also traditionally silk. Over time, colour options and fabric choices for Indian brides have expanded. Today fabrics like crepe, Georgette, charmeuse, and satin are used, and colours have been expanded to include gold, pink, orange, maroon, brown, and yellow as well. Indian brides in Western countries often wear the sari at the wedding ceremony and change into traditional Indian wear afterwards (lehnga, choli, etc.).
STYLES OF DRAPING
There are more than 80 recorded ways to wear a sari. Fashion designer Aaditya sharma declared, "I can drape a sari in 54 different styles".
The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with the loose end of the drape to be worn over the shoulder, baring the midriff. However, the sari can be draped in several different styles, though some styles do require a sari of a particular length or form. The French cultural anthropologist and sari researcher Chantal Boulanger categorised sari drapes in the following families:
- Nivi – styles originally worn in Andhra Pradesh; besides the modern nivi, there is also the kaccha nivi, where the pleats are passed through the legs and tucked into the waist at the back. This allows free movement while covering the legs.
- Bengali and Odia style.
- Gujarati/Rajasthani/Pakistani – after tucking in the pleats similar to the nivi style, the loose end is taken from the back, draped across the right shoulder, and pulled across to be secured in the back
- Maharashtrian/Konkani/Kashta; this drape is very similar to that of the male Maharashtrian dhoti. The centre of the sari (held lengthwise) is placed at the centre back, the ends are brought forward and tied securely, then the two ends are wrapped around the legs. When worn as a sari, an extra-long cloth of nine yards is used and the ends are then passed up over the shoulders and the upper body. They are primarily worn by Brahmin women of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.
- Madisar – this drape is typical of Iyengar/Iyer Brahmin ladies from Tamil Nadu. Traditional Madisar is worn using 9 yards saree.
- Kodagu style – this drape is confined to ladies hailing from the Kodagu district of Karnataka. In this style, the pleats are created in the rear, instead of the front. The loose end of the sari is draped back-to-front over the right shoulder, and is pinned to the rest of the sari.
- Gobbe Seere – This style is worn by women in the Malnad or Sahyadri and central region of Karnataka. It is worn with 18 molas saree with three four rounds at the waist and a knot after crisscrossing over shoulders.
- Gond – sari styles found in many parts of Central India. The cloth is first draped over the left shoulder, then arranged to cover the body.
- Malayali style – the two-piece sari, or Mundum Neryathum, worn in Kerala. Usually made of unbleached cotton and decorated with gold or coloured stripes and/or borders. Also the Kerala sari, a sort of mundum neryathum.
- Tribal styles – often secured by tying them firmly across the chest, covering the breasts.
Kunbi style or denthli:Goan Gauda and Kunbis,and those of them who have migrated to other states use this way of draping Sari or Kappad, this form of draping is created by tying a knot in the fabric below the shoulder and a strip of cloth which crossed the left shoulder was fasten on the back.
NIVI STYLE
The nivi is today's most popular sari style from Andhra Pradesh. The increased interaction with the British saw most women from royal families come out of purdah in the 1900s. This necessitated a change of dress. Maharani Indira Devi of Cooch Behar popularised the chiffon sari. She was widowed early in life and followed the convention of abandoning her richly woven Baroda shalus in favour of the traditional unadorned white. Characteristically, she transformed her "mourning" clothes into high fashion. She had saris woven in France to her personal specifications, in white chiffon, and introduced the silk chiffon sari to the royal fashion repertoire.
The chiffon sari did what years of fashion interaction had not done in India. It homogenised fashion across this land. Its softness, lightness and beautiful, elegant, caressing drape was ideally suited to the Indian climate. Different courts adopted their own styles of draping and indigenising the sari. In most of the courts the sari was embellished with stitching hand-woven borders in goldfrom Varanasi, delicate zardozi work, gota, makaish and tilla work that embellished the plain fabric, simultaneously satisfying both traditional demands and ingrained love for ornamentation. Some images of maharanis in the Deccan show the women wearing a sleeveless, richly embellished waistcoat over their blouses. The Begum of Savanur remembers how sumptuous the chiffon sari became at their gatherings. At some courts it was worn with jaali, or net kurtas and embossed silk waist length sadris or jackets. Some of them were so rich that the entire ground was embroidered over with pearls and zardozi.
Nivi drape starts with one end of the sari tucked into the waistband of the petticoat, usually a plain skirt. The cloth is wrapped around the lower body once, then hand-gathered into even pleats below the navel. The pleats are tucked into the waistband of the petticoat. They create a graceful, decorative effect which poets have likened to the petals of a flower. After one more turn around the waist, the loose end is draped over the shoulder. The loose end is called the pallu, pallav, seragu, or paita depending on the language. It is draped diagonally in front of the torso. It is worn across the right hip to over the left shoulder, partly baring the midriff. The navel can be revealed or concealed by the wearer by adjusting the pallu, depending on the social setting. The long end of the pallu hanging from the back of the shoulder is often intricately decorated. The pallu may be hanging freely, tucked in at the waist, used to cover the head, or used to cover the neck, by draping it across the right shoulder as well. Some nivi styles are worn with the pallu draped from the back towards the front, coming from the back over the right shoulder with one corner tucked by the left hip, covering the torso/waist. The nivi sari was popularised through the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma. In one of his paintings, the Indian subcontinent was shown as a mother wearing a flowing nivi sari. The ornaments generally accepted by the Hindu culture that can be worn in the midriff region are the waist chains. They are considered to be a part of bridal jewellery.
PROFESSIONAL STYLE OF DRAPING
Because of the harsh extremes in temperature on the Indian Subcontinent, the sari fills a practical role as well as a decorative one. It is not only warming in winter and cooling in summer, but its loose-fitting tailoring is preferred by women who must be free to move as their duties require. For this reason, it is the clothing of choice of air hostesses on Air India. This led to a professional style of draping a sari which is referred to "Air-Hostess style sari". An air hostess style sari is tied in just the same way as a normal sari except that the pleats are held together quite nicely with the help of pins. A bordered sari will be just perfect for an Air-Hostess style drape where the pallu is heavily pleated and pinned on the shoulder. Even the vertical pleats that are tucked at the navel are severely pleated and pressed. Same goes for the pallu pleats that are pinned at the shoulder. To get the perfect "Air-hostess" a complimentary U-shaped blouse that covers the upper body completely is worn which gives a very elegant and formal look. Mastering the "Air-hostess" style drape helps to create the desired impact in a formal setting like an interview or a conference.
Saris are worn as uniforms by the female hotel staff of many five star luxury hotels in India as symbol of culture. Recently, in a makeover design, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, decided the welcoming staff at the group's Luxury Hotels would be draped in the rich colours and designs of the Banarasi six yards. The new saris were unveiled at the Taj property in Mumbai. It will be subsequently replicated at all 10 Luxury Hotels of the group across the country for duty managers and front office staff. Taj had adopted three villages in Varanasi and employed 25 master weavers there for the project. The vision finally took shape after 14 months, once the weavers had a good work environment, understood the designs and fine-tuned the motifs.
Similarly, the female politicians of India wear the sari in a professional manner. The women of Nehru–Gandhi family like Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi wear the special blouse for the campaign trail which is longer than usually and is tucked in to prevent any midriff show while waving to the crowds.Stylist Prasad Bidapa has to say, "I think Sonia Gandhi is the country's most stylish politician. But that's because she's inherited the best collection of saris from her mother-in-law. I'm also happy that she supports the Indian handloom industry with her selection." BJP politician Sushma Swaraj maintains her prim housewife look with a pinned-up pallu while general secretary of AIADMK Jayalalithaa wears her saris like a suit of armour.
SARIS IN INDIAN LAW
In 2014, an Indian family court in Mumbai ruled that a husband objecting to his wife wearing a kurta and jeans and forcing her to wear a sari amounts to cruelty inflicted by the husband and can be a ground to seek divorce. The wife was thus granted a divorce on the ground of cruelty as defined under section 27(1)(d) of Special Marriage Act, 1954.
BANGLADESH
Sharee or saree (in Bengali=শাড়ি) is the national wear of Bangladeshi women. Most women who are married wear sharee as their regular dress while young-unmarried girls wear sharee as an occasional dress. The shari is worn by women throughout Bangladesh. Sari is the most popular dress for women in Bangladesh, both for casual and formal occasion. Although Dhakai Jamdani (hand made shari) is worldwide known and most famous to all women who wear shari but there are also many variety of shari in Bangladesh.There are many regional variations of them in both silk and cotton. e.g.- Tanta/Tant cotton shari, Dhakai Benaroshi shari, Rajshahi silk shari, Tangail Tanter shari, Tassar silk shari, monipuri shari and Katan shari are the most popular in Bangladesh.
PAKISTAN
In Pakistan, the sarees are still popular and worn on special occasions. The Shalwar kameez, however, is worn throughout the country on a daily basis. The sari nevertheless remains a popular garment among the middle and upper class for many formal functions. Sarees can be seen worn commonly in metropolitan cities such as Karachi and Islamabad and are worn regularly to weddings and other business type of functions. Sarees are also worn by many Muslim women in Sindh to show their status or to enhance their beauty. The sari is worn as daily wear by Pakistani Hindus, by elderly Muslim women who were used to wearing it in pre-partition India and by some of the new generation who have reintroduced the interest in saris.
SRI LANKA
Sri Lankan women wear saris in many styles. Two ways of draping the sari are popular and tend to dominate: the Indian style (classic nivi drape) and the Kandyan style (or osaria in Sinhalese). The Kandyan style is generally more popular in the hill country region of Kandy from which the style gets its name. Though local preferences play a role, most women decide on style depending on personal preference or what is perceived to be most flattering for their figure.
The traditional Kandyan (osaria) style consists of a full blouse which covers the midriff completely and is partially tucked in at the front as is seen in this 19th-century portrait. However, modern intermingling of styles has led to most wearers baring the midriff. The final tail of the sari is neatly pleated rather than free-flowing. This is rather similar to the pleated rosette used in the Dravidian style noted earlier in the article.
The Kandyan style is considered the national dress of Sinhalese women. It is the uniform of the air hostesses of SriLankan Airlines.
During the 1960s, the mini sari known as 'hipster' sari created a wrinkle in Sri Lankan fashion, since it was worn below the navel and barely above the line of prosecution for indecent exposure. The conservative people described the 'hipster' as "an absolute travesty of a beautiful costume almost a desecration" and "a hideous and purposeless garment".
NEPAL
The sari is the most commonly worn women's clothing in Nepal. In Nepal, a special style of sari draping is called haku patasihh. The sari is draped around the waist and a shawl is worn covering the upper half of the sari, which is used in place of a pallu.
AFGHANISTAN
Sari's have been worn by the Afghan royal family house and upper family classes as well by Muslim women at special functions.
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES WITH OTHER ASIAN CLOTHING
While the sari is typical to Indian traditional wear, clothing worn by South-East Asian countries like Burma, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore resemble it, where a long rectangular piece of cloth is draped around the body. These are different from the sari as they are wrapped around the lower-half of body as a skirt, worn with a shirt/blouse, resembling a sarong, as seen in the Burmese Longyi, Filipino Malong, Tapis, Laotian Xout lao, Thai Sinh's, and Timorese Tais. Saris, worn predominantly in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal are usually draped with one end of the cloth fastened around the waist, and the other end placed over the shoulder baring the midriff.
SAREE ORNAMENTATION AND DECORATIVE ACCESSORIES
Saris are woven with one plain end (the end that is concealed inside the wrap), two long decorative borders running the length of the sari, and a one to three-foot section at the other end which continues and elaborates the length-wise decoration. This end is called the pallu; it is the part thrown over the shoulder in the nivi style of draping.
In past times, saris were woven of silk or cotton. The rich could afford finely woven, diaphanous silk saris that, according to folklore, could be passed through a finger ring. The poor wore coarsely woven cotton saris. All saris were handwoven and represented a considerable investment of time or money.
Simple hand-woven villagers' saris are often decorated with checks or stripes woven into the cloth. Inexpensive saris were also decorated with block printing using carved wooden blocks and vegetable dyes, or tie-dyeing, known in India as bhandani work.
More expensive saris had elaborate geometric, floral, or figurative ornaments or brocades created on the loom, as part of the fabric. Sometimes warp and weft threads were tie-dyed and then woven, creating ikat patterns. Sometimes threads of different colours were woven into the base fabric in patterns; an ornamented border, an elaborate pallu, and often, small repeated accents in the cloth itself. These accents are called buttis or bhuttis (spellings vary). For fancy saris, these patterns could be woven with gold or silver thread, which is called zari work.
Sometimes the saris were further decorated, after weaving, with various sorts of embroidery. Resham work is embroidery done with coloured silk thread. Zardozi embroidery uses gold and silver thread, and sometimes pearls and precious stones. Cheap modern versions of zardozi use synthetic metallic thread and imitation stones, such as fake pearls and Swarovski crystals.
In modern times, saris are increasingly woven on mechanical looms and made of artificial fibres, such as polyester, nylon, or rayon, which do not require starching or ironing. They are printed by machine, or woven in simple patterns made with floats across the back of the sari. This can create an elaborate appearance on the front, while looking ugly on the back. The punchra work is imitated with inexpensive machine-made tassel trim.
Hand-woven, hand-decorated saris are naturally much more expensive than the machine imitations. While the overall market for handweaving has plummeted (leading to much distress among Indian handweavers), hand-woven saris are still popular for weddings and other grand social occasions.
SARI OUTSIDE SOUTH ASIA
The traditional sari made an impact in the United States during the 1970s. Eugene Novack who ran the New York store, Royal Saree House told that he had been selling it mainly to the Indian women in New York area but later many American business women and housewives became his customers who preferred their saris to resemble the full gown of the western world. He also said that men appeared intrigued by the fragility and the femininity it confers on the wearer. Newcomers to the sari report that it is comfortable to wear, requiring no girdles or stockings and that the flowing garb feels so feminine with unusual grace.
As a nod to the fashion-forward philosophy established by the designs of Emilio Pucci, the now-defunct Braniff International Airways envisioned their air hostesses wearing a more revealing version of a sari on a proposed Dallas-Bombay (conceivably via London) service in the late 1970s. However this was never realised because of Halston's resistance to working with a palette outside of his comfort zone. The former Eagan, Minnesota–based Northwest Airlines considered issuing saris to flight attendants working the Minneapolis-Amsterdam-Delhi route that began in the 1990s. This never occurred largely because of a union dispute.
The sari has gained its popularity internationally because of the growth of Indian fashion trends globally. Many Bollywood celebrities, like Aishwarya Rai,[48] have worn it at international events representing the Indian culture. In 2010, Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone wanted to represent her country at an international event, wearing the national costume. On her very first red carpet appearance at the Cannes International Film Festival, she stepped out on the red carpet in a Rohit Bal sari.
Even popular Hollywood celebrities have worn this traditional attire. Pamela Anderson made a surprise guest appearance on Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother, dressed in a sari that was specially designed for her by Mumbai-based fashion designer Ashley Rebello. Ashley Judd donned a purple sari at the Youth AIDS Benefit Gala in November 2007 at the Ritz Carlton in Mclean, Virginia. There was an Indian flavour to the red carpet at the annual Fashion Rocks concert in New York, with designer Rocky S walking the ramp along with Jessica, Ashley, Nicole, Kimberly and Melody – the Pussycat Dolls – dressed in saris.
TYPES
While an international image of the modern style sari may have been popularised by airline stewardesses, each region in the Indian subcontinent has developed, over the centuries, its own unique sari style. Following are other well-known varieties, distinct on the basis of fabric, weaving style, or motif, in South Asia:
CENTRAL STYLES
Chanderi Sari – Madhya Pradesh
Maheshwari – Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh
Kosa Silk – Chhattisgarh
Dhokra Silk – Madhya Pradesh
EASTERN STYLES
Tangail Tant Saree – Bangladesh
Jamdani – Bangladesh
Muslin – Bangladesh
Rajshahi Silk (Eri Silk) – Bangladesh
Tussar Silk Saree – Rajshahi Bangladesh
Dhakai Katan – Bangladesh
Khadi Saree – Comilla Bangladesh
Jute Cotton – Bangladesh
Mooga Silk – Assam
Mekhla Cotton – Assam
Dhaniakhali Cotton – West Bengal
Shantipuri Cotton – Shantipur, West Bengal
Phulia Cotton – Phulia, West Bengal
Begumpur Cotton – Begumpur, West Bengal
Garad Saree (Korial) – Murshidabad, West Bengal
Tant Saree – Farshganj, West Bengal
Murshidabad Silk – West Bengal
Baluchari Silk – Bishnupur, Bankura West Bengal
Kantha Silk & Cotton Saree – West Bengal & Bangladesh
Batic Saree – West Bengal & Bangladesh
Sambalpuri Silk & Cotton Saree – Sambalpur, Odisha
Bomkai Silk & Cotton Saree – Bomkai, Ganjam, Odisha
Khandua Silk & Cotton Saree – Nuapatna, Cuttack, Odisha
Sonepuri Silk & Cotton Saree – Subarnapur, Odisha
Berhampuri Silk – Behrampur, Odisha
Mattha Silk Saree – Mayurbhanj, Odisha
Bapta Silk & Cotton Saree – Koraput, Odisha
Tanta Cotton Saree – Balasore, Odisha
Manipuri Tant Saree - Manipur
WESTERN STYLES
Paithani – Maharashtra
Bandhani – Gujarat, Rajasthan, Pakistan
Kota doria – Rajasthan, Pakistan
Lugade – Maharashtra
Patola – Gujarat, Pakistan
SOUTHERN STYLES
Mysore Silk – Karnataka
Ilkal Saree – Karnataka
Molakalmuru Sari – Karnataka
Venkatagiri – Andhra Pradesh
Mangalagiri Silk Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Uppada Silk Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Chirala Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Bandar Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Bandarulanka – Andhra Pradesh
Kuppadam Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Dharmavaram Silk Saree – Andhra pradesh
Kanchipuram Sari (locally called Kanjivaram Pattu) – Tamil Nadu
Kumbakonam – Tamil Nadu
Thirubuvanam – Tamil Nadu
Coimbatore Cotton Tamil Nadu
Chinnalampattu or Sungudi Tamil Nadu
Balarampuram – Kerala
Mundum Neriyathum – Kerala
Mayilati Silk – Kerala
Kannur Cotton – Kerala
Kalpathi Silk Sarees – Kerala
Maradaka Silk – Kerala
Samudrikapuram Silk and Cotton – Kerala
Pochampally Sari or Puttapaka Sari – Telangana
Gadwal Sari – Telangana
Narayanpet – Telangana or Maharashtra
NORTHERN STYLES
Banarasi – Uttar Pradesh
Shalu – Uttar Pradesh
Tanchoi – Uttar Pradesh
Bagru – Rajasthan, Pakistan
WIKIPEDIA
Tye & Dye fabric being prepared by a weavers family in Koyallaguden (Pochampally) area of Hyderabad,India
© Rajesh Pamnani 2012
. . . in Double Ikat not only the warp gets pattern, so does the weft. This is much more time consuming and complicate.
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Ikat (in Indonesian languages means "bind") is a dyeing technique originating from Indonesia used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.
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 is 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, especially in lining up the weft patterns.
ETYMOLOGY
Ikat is an Indonesian word, which depending on context, can be the nouns: cord, thread, knot, or bundle, also the finished ikat fabric, as well as the verbs "to tie" or "to bind"; the term ikatan is a noun for bond or tie. It has a direct etymological relation to cognates in 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. 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.
HISTORY OF IKAT
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).
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. 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.
TYPES OF IKAT
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.
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 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. In Japan, double ikat is woven in the Okinawa islands where it is called tate-yoko gasuri.
DISTRIBUTION
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 Sumatra 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.
PRODUKTION
WARP IKAT
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 IKAT
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 IKAT
Double ikat is created by resist-dyeing both the warp and weft prior to weaving. 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.
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.
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.
The double ikat of Japan is woven in the Okinawa islands and is called tate-yoko gasuri.
Pochampally Saree, a variety from a small village in Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India is known for silk saris woven in the double Ikat.
The Puttapaka Saree 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.
ŌSHIMA
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.
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.
OTHER COUNTRIES
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. When the King of Thailand came to the US in 1856, he brought as a gift for President Franklin Pierce fine Cambodian ikat cloth.[18] 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.
THAILAND
In Thailand, the local weft ikat type of woven cloth is known as Matmi (also spelled 'Mudmee' or 'Mudmi'). 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.
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.
LATIN AMERICA
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. 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.
ACCREDITATION
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.
WIKIPEDIA
. . . in Double Ikat not only the warp gets pattern, so does the weft. This is much more time consuming and complicate.
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Ikat (in Indonesian languages means "bind") is a dyeing technique originating from Indonesia used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.
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 is 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, especially in lining up the weft patterns.
ETYMOLOGY
Ikat is an Indonesian word, which depending on context, can be the nouns: cord, thread, knot, or bundle, also the finished ikat fabric, as well as the verbs "to tie" or "to bind"; the term ikatan is a noun for bond or tie. It has a direct etymological relation to cognates in 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. 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.
HISTORY OF IKAT
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).
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. 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.
TYPES OF IKAT
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.
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 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. In Japan, double ikat is woven in the Okinawa islands where it is called tate-yoko gasuri.
DISTRIBUTION
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 Sumatra 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.
PRODUKTION
WARP IKAT
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 IKAT
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 IKAT
Double ikat is created by resist-dyeing both the warp and weft prior to weaving. 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.
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.
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.
The double ikat of Japan is woven in the Okinawa islands and is called tate-yoko gasuri.
Pochampally Saree, a variety from a small village in Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India is known for silk saris woven in the double Ikat.
The Puttapaka Saree 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.
ŌSHIMA
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.
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.
OTHER COUNTRIES
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. When the King of Thailand came to the US in 1856, he brought as a gift for President Franklin Pierce fine Cambodian ikat cloth.[18] 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.
THAILAND
In Thailand, the local weft ikat type of woven cloth is known as Matmi (also spelled 'Mudmee' or 'Mudmi'). 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.
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.
LATIN AMERICA
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. 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.
ACCREDITATION
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.
WIKIPEDIA
A Sari, saree, sadi, or shari is a South Asian female garment that consists of a drape varying from 4.5 metres to 8 metres in length and 60 cm to 1.20 m in breadth that is typically wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder, baring the midriff.
The sari is usually worn over a petticoat (called 'parkar' (परकर) in Marathi lahaṅgā or lehenga in the north; seelai in Tamil, pavada (or occasionally langa) in Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu, chaniyo, parkar, ghaghra, or ghagaro in the west; and shaya in eastern India), with a fitted upper garment commonly called a blouse (ravike in South India and choli elsewhere). The blouse has short sleeves and is usually cropped at the midriff. The sari is associated with grace and is widely regarded as a symbol of Indian, Nepalese, Bangladesh, and Sri Lankan cultures.
ETYMOLOGY
The word sari described in Sanskrit शाटी śāṭī which means 'strip of cloth' and शाडी śāḍī or साडी sāḍī in Prakrit, and which was corrupted to sāṛī in Hindi. The word 'Sattika' is mentioned as describing women's attire in ancient India in Buddhist Jain literature called Jatakas. This could be equivalent to modern day 'Sari'. The term for female bodice, the choli is derived from another ruling clan from ancient Tamil Nadu, the Cholas. Rajatarangini (meaning the 'river of kings'), a tenth-century literary work by Kalhana, states that the Choli from the Deccan was introduced under the royal order in Kashmir.
ORIGINS AND HISTORY
In the history of Indian clothing the sari is traced back to the Indus Valley Civilisation, which flourished during 2800–1800 BC around the western part of the Indian subcontinent. Sari draping leaves back, cleavage, and side view of belly bare. The origin of such exposing attire can be attributed to humid climate of the land. The earliest known depiction of the sari in the Indian subcontinent is the statue of an Indus Valley priest wearing a drape.
Ancient Tamil poetry, such as the Silappadhikaram and the Sanskrit work, Kadambari by Banabhatta, describes women in exquisite drapery or sari. The ancient stone inscription from Gangaikonda Cholapuram in old Tamil scripts has a reference to hand weaving. In ancient Indian tradition and the Natya Shastra (an ancient Indian treatise describing ancient dance and costumes), the navel of the Supreme Being is considered to be the source of life and creativity, hence the midriff is to be left bare by the sari.
Sculptures from the Gandhara, Mathura and Gupta schools (1st–6th century AD) show goddesses and dancers wearing what appears to be a dhoti wrap, in the "fishtail" version which covers the legs loosely and then flows into a long, decorative drape in front of the legs. No bodices are shown.
Other sources say that everyday costume consisted of a dhoti or lungi (sarong), combined with a breast band called 'Kurpasika' or 'Stanapatta' and occasionally a wrap called 'Uttariya' that could at times be used to cover the upper body or head. The two-piece Kerala mundum neryathum (mundu, a dhoti or sarong, neryath, a shawl, in Malayalam) is a survival of ancient Indian clothing styles. The one-piece sari is a modern innovation, created by combining the two pieces of the mundum neryathum.
It is generally accepted that wrapped sari-like garments for lower body and sometimes shawls or scarf like garment called 'uttariya' for upper body, have been worn by Indian women for a long time, and that they have been worn in their current form for hundreds of years. In ancient couture the lower garment was called 'nivi' or 'nivi bandha', while the upper body was mostly left bare. The works of Kalidasa mentions 'Kurpasika' a form of tight fitting breast band that simply covered the breasts. It was also sometimes referred to as 'Uttarasanga' or 'Stanapatta'.
The tightly fitted, short blouse worn under a sari is a choli. Choli evolved as a form of clothing in the 10th century AD, and the first cholis were only front covering; the back was always bare but covered with end of saris pallu. Bodices of this type are still common in the state of Rajasthan.
In South India and especially in Kerala, women from most Hindu communities wore only the sari and exposed the upper part of the body till the middle of the 20th century.Poetic references from works like Silappadikaram indicate that during the Sangam period in ancient Tamil Nadu, a single piece of clothing served as both lower garment and head covering, leaving the midriff completely uncovered. Similar styles of the sari are recorded paintings by Raja Ravi Varma in Kerala. By the mid 19th century, though, bare breasted styles of the sari faced social revaluation and led to the Upper cloth controversy in the princely state of Travancore (now part of the state of Kerala) and the styles declined rapidly within the next half a century.
In ancient India, although women wore saris that bared the midriff, the Dharmasastra writers stated that women should be dressed such that the navel would never become visible. By which for some time the navel exposure became a taboo and the navel was concealed.
Red wedding saris are the traditional garment choice for brides in Indian culture. Sari fabric is also traditionally silk. Over time, colour options and fabric choices for Indian brides have expanded. Today fabrics like crepe, Georgette, charmeuse, and satin are used, and colours have been expanded to include gold, pink, orange, maroon, brown, and yellow as well. Indian brides in Western countries often wear the sari at the wedding ceremony and change into traditional Indian wear afterwards (lehnga, choli, etc.).
STYLES OF DRAPING
There are more than 80 recorded ways to wear a sari. Fashion designer Aaditya sharma declared, "I can drape a sari in 54 different styles".
The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with the loose end of the drape to be worn over the shoulder, baring the midriff. However, the sari can be draped in several different styles, though some styles do require a sari of a particular length or form. The French cultural anthropologist and sari researcher Chantal Boulanger categorised sari drapes in the following families:
- Nivi – styles originally worn in Andhra Pradesh; besides the modern nivi, there is also the kaccha nivi, where the pleats are passed through the legs and tucked into the waist at the back. This allows free movement while covering the legs.
- Bengali and Odia style.
- Gujarati/Rajasthani/Pakistani – after tucking in the pleats similar to the nivi style, the loose end is taken from the back, draped across the right shoulder, and pulled across to be secured in the back
- Maharashtrian/Konkani/Kashta; this drape is very similar to that of the male Maharashtrian dhoti. The centre of the sari (held lengthwise) is placed at the centre back, the ends are brought forward and tied securely, then the two ends are wrapped around the legs. When worn as a sari, an extra-long cloth of nine yards is used and the ends are then passed up over the shoulders and the upper body. They are primarily worn by Brahmin women of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.
- Madisar – this drape is typical of Iyengar/Iyer Brahmin ladies from Tamil Nadu. Traditional Madisar is worn using 9 yards saree.
- Kodagu style – this drape is confined to ladies hailing from the Kodagu district of Karnataka. In this style, the pleats are created in the rear, instead of the front. The loose end of the sari is draped back-to-front over the right shoulder, and is pinned to the rest of the sari.
- Gobbe Seere – This style is worn by women in the Malnad or Sahyadri and central region of Karnataka. It is worn with 18 molas saree with three four rounds at the waist and a knot after crisscrossing over shoulders.
- Gond – sari styles found in many parts of Central India. The cloth is first draped over the left shoulder, then arranged to cover the body.
- Malayali style – the two-piece sari, or Mundum Neryathum, worn in Kerala. Usually made of unbleached cotton and decorated with gold or coloured stripes and/or borders. Also the Kerala sari, a sort of mundum neryathum.
- Tribal styles – often secured by tying them firmly across the chest, covering the breasts.
Kunbi style or denthli:Goan Gauda and Kunbis,and those of them who have migrated to other states use this way of draping Sari or Kappad, this form of draping is created by tying a knot in the fabric below the shoulder and a strip of cloth which crossed the left shoulder was fasten on the back.
NIVI STYLE
The nivi is today's most popular sari style from Andhra Pradesh. The increased interaction with the British saw most women from royal families come out of purdah in the 1900s. This necessitated a change of dress. Maharani Indira Devi of Cooch Behar popularised the chiffon sari. She was widowed early in life and followed the convention of abandoning her richly woven Baroda shalus in favour of the traditional unadorned white. Characteristically, she transformed her "mourning" clothes into high fashion. She had saris woven in France to her personal specifications, in white chiffon, and introduced the silk chiffon sari to the royal fashion repertoire.
The chiffon sari did what years of fashion interaction had not done in India. It homogenised fashion across this land. Its softness, lightness and beautiful, elegant, caressing drape was ideally suited to the Indian climate. Different courts adopted their own styles of draping and indigenising the sari. In most of the courts the sari was embellished with stitching hand-woven borders in goldfrom Varanasi, delicate zardozi work, gota, makaish and tilla work that embellished the plain fabric, simultaneously satisfying both traditional demands and ingrained love for ornamentation. Some images of maharanis in the Deccan show the women wearing a sleeveless, richly embellished waistcoat over their blouses. The Begum of Savanur remembers how sumptuous the chiffon sari became at their gatherings. At some courts it was worn with jaali, or net kurtas and embossed silk waist length sadris or jackets. Some of them were so rich that the entire ground was embroidered over with pearls and zardozi.
Nivi drape starts with one end of the sari tucked into the waistband of the petticoat, usually a plain skirt. The cloth is wrapped around the lower body once, then hand-gathered into even pleats below the navel. The pleats are tucked into the waistband of the petticoat. They create a graceful, decorative effect which poets have likened to the petals of a flower. After one more turn around the waist, the loose end is draped over the shoulder. The loose end is called the pallu, pallav, seragu, or paita depending on the language. It is draped diagonally in front of the torso. It is worn across the right hip to over the left shoulder, partly baring the midriff. The navel can be revealed or concealed by the wearer by adjusting the pallu, depending on the social setting. The long end of the pallu hanging from the back of the shoulder is often intricately decorated. The pallu may be hanging freely, tucked in at the waist, used to cover the head, or used to cover the neck, by draping it across the right shoulder as well. Some nivi styles are worn with the pallu draped from the back towards the front, coming from the back over the right shoulder with one corner tucked by the left hip, covering the torso/waist. The nivi sari was popularised through the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma. In one of his paintings, the Indian subcontinent was shown as a mother wearing a flowing nivi sari. The ornaments generally accepted by the Hindu culture that can be worn in the midriff region are the waist chains. They are considered to be a part of bridal jewellery.
PROFESSIONAL STYLE OF DRAPING
Because of the harsh extremes in temperature on the Indian Subcontinent, the sari fills a practical role as well as a decorative one. It is not only warming in winter and cooling in summer, but its loose-fitting tailoring is preferred by women who must be free to move as their duties require. For this reason, it is the clothing of choice of air hostesses on Air India. This led to a professional style of draping a sari which is referred to "Air-Hostess style sari". An air hostess style sari is tied in just the same way as a normal sari except that the pleats are held together quite nicely with the help of pins. A bordered sari will be just perfect for an Air-Hostess style drape where the pallu is heavily pleated and pinned on the shoulder. Even the vertical pleats that are tucked at the navel are severely pleated and pressed. Same goes for the pallu pleats that are pinned at the shoulder. To get the perfect "Air-hostess" a complimentary U-shaped blouse that covers the upper body completely is worn which gives a very elegant and formal look. Mastering the "Air-hostess" style drape helps to create the desired impact in a formal setting like an interview or a conference.
Saris are worn as uniforms by the female hotel staff of many five star luxury hotels in India as symbol of culture. Recently, in a makeover design, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, decided the welcoming staff at the group's Luxury Hotels would be draped in the rich colours and designs of the Banarasi six yards. The new saris were unveiled at the Taj property in Mumbai. It will be subsequently replicated at all 10 Luxury Hotels of the group across the country for duty managers and front office staff. Taj had adopted three villages in Varanasi and employed 25 master weavers there for the project. The vision finally took shape after 14 months, once the weavers had a good work environment, understood the designs and fine-tuned the motifs.
Similarly, the female politicians of India wear the sari in a professional manner. The women of Nehru–Gandhi family like Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi wear the special blouse for the campaign trail which is longer than usually and is tucked in to prevent any midriff show while waving to the crowds.Stylist Prasad Bidapa has to say, "I think Sonia Gandhi is the country's most stylish politician. But that's because she's inherited the best collection of saris from her mother-in-law. I'm also happy that she supports the Indian handloom industry with her selection." BJP politician Sushma Swaraj maintains her prim housewife look with a pinned-up pallu while general secretary of AIADMK Jayalalithaa wears her saris like a suit of armour.
SARIS IN INDIAN LAW
In 2014, an Indian family court in Mumbai ruled that a husband objecting to his wife wearing a kurta and jeans and forcing her to wear a sari amounts to cruelty inflicted by the husband and can be a ground to seek divorce. The wife was thus granted a divorce on the ground of cruelty as defined under section 27(1)(d) of Special Marriage Act, 1954.
BANGLADESH
Sharee or saree (in Bengali=শাড়ি) is the national wear of Bangladeshi women. Most women who are married wear sharee as their regular dress while young-unmarried girls wear sharee as an occasional dress. The shari is worn by women throughout Bangladesh. Sari is the most popular dress for women in Bangladesh, both for casual and formal occasion. Although Dhakai Jamdani (hand made shari) is worldwide known and most famous to all women who wear shari but there are also many variety of shari in Bangladesh.There are many regional variations of them in both silk and cotton. e.g.- Tanta/Tant cotton shari, Dhakai Benaroshi shari, Rajshahi silk shari, Tangail Tanter shari, Tassar silk shari, monipuri shari and Katan shari are the most popular in Bangladesh.
PAKISTAN
In Pakistan, the sarees are still popular and worn on special occasions. The Shalwar kameez, however, is worn throughout the country on a daily basis. The sari nevertheless remains a popular garment among the middle and upper class for many formal functions. Sarees can be seen worn commonly in metropolitan cities such as Karachi and Islamabad and are worn regularly to weddings and other business type of functions. Sarees are also worn by many Muslim women in Sindh to show their status or to enhance their beauty. The sari is worn as daily wear by Pakistani Hindus, by elderly Muslim women who were used to wearing it in pre-partition India and by some of the new generation who have reintroduced the interest in saris.
SRI LANKA
Sri Lankan women wear saris in many styles. Two ways of draping the sari are popular and tend to dominate: the Indian style (classic nivi drape) and the Kandyan style (or osaria in Sinhalese). The Kandyan style is generally more popular in the hill country region of Kandy from which the style gets its name. Though local preferences play a role, most women decide on style depending on personal preference or what is perceived to be most flattering for their figure.
The traditional Kandyan (osaria) style consists of a full blouse which covers the midriff completely and is partially tucked in at the front as is seen in this 19th-century portrait. However, modern intermingling of styles has led to most wearers baring the midriff. The final tail of the sari is neatly pleated rather than free-flowing. This is rather similar to the pleated rosette used in the Dravidian style noted earlier in the article.
The Kandyan style is considered the national dress of Sinhalese women. It is the uniform of the air hostesses of SriLankan Airlines.
During the 1960s, the mini sari known as 'hipster' sari created a wrinkle in Sri Lankan fashion, since it was worn below the navel and barely above the line of prosecution for indecent exposure. The conservative people described the 'hipster' as "an absolute travesty of a beautiful costume almost a desecration" and "a hideous and purposeless garment".
NEPAL
The sari is the most commonly worn women's clothing in Nepal. In Nepal, a special style of sari draping is called haku patasihh. The sari is draped around the waist and a shawl is worn covering the upper half of the sari, which is used in place of a pallu.
AFGHANISTAN
Sari's have been worn by the Afghan royal family house and upper family classes as well by Muslim women at special functions.
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES WITH OTHER ASIAN CLOTHING
While the sari is typical to Indian traditional wear, clothing worn by South-East Asian countries like Burma, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore resemble it, where a long rectangular piece of cloth is draped around the body. These are different from the sari as they are wrapped around the lower-half of body as a skirt, worn with a shirt/blouse, resembling a sarong, as seen in the Burmese Longyi, Filipino Malong, Tapis, Laotian Xout lao, Thai Sinh's, and Timorese Tais. Saris, worn predominantly in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal are usually draped with one end of the cloth fastened around the waist, and the other end placed over the shoulder baring the midriff.
SAREE ORNAMENTATION AND DECORATIVE ACCESSORIES
Saris are woven with one plain end (the end that is concealed inside the wrap), two long decorative borders running the length of the sari, and a one to three-foot section at the other end which continues and elaborates the length-wise decoration. This end is called the pallu; it is the part thrown over the shoulder in the nivi style of draping.
In past times, saris were woven of silk or cotton. The rich could afford finely woven, diaphanous silk saris that, according to folklore, could be passed through a finger ring. The poor wore coarsely woven cotton saris. All saris were handwoven and represented a considerable investment of time or money.
Simple hand-woven villagers' saris are often decorated with checks or stripes woven into the cloth. Inexpensive saris were also decorated with block printing using carved wooden blocks and vegetable dyes, or tie-dyeing, known in India as bhandani work.
More expensive saris had elaborate geometric, floral, or figurative ornaments or brocades created on the loom, as part of the fabric. Sometimes warp and weft threads were tie-dyed and then woven, creating ikat patterns. Sometimes threads of different colours were woven into the base fabric in patterns; an ornamented border, an elaborate pallu, and often, small repeated accents in the cloth itself. These accents are called buttis or bhuttis (spellings vary). For fancy saris, these patterns could be woven with gold or silver thread, which is called zari work.
Sometimes the saris were further decorated, after weaving, with various sorts of embroidery. Resham work is embroidery done with coloured silk thread. Zardozi embroidery uses gold and silver thread, and sometimes pearls and precious stones. Cheap modern versions of zardozi use synthetic metallic thread and imitation stones, such as fake pearls and Swarovski crystals.
In modern times, saris are increasingly woven on mechanical looms and made of artificial fibres, such as polyester, nylon, or rayon, which do not require starching or ironing. They are printed by machine, or woven in simple patterns made with floats across the back of the sari. This can create an elaborate appearance on the front, while looking ugly on the back. The punchra work is imitated with inexpensive machine-made tassel trim.
Hand-woven, hand-decorated saris are naturally much more expensive than the machine imitations. While the overall market for handweaving has plummeted (leading to much distress among Indian handweavers), hand-woven saris are still popular for weddings and other grand social occasions.
SARI OUTSIDE SOUTH ASIA
The traditional sari made an impact in the United States during the 1970s. Eugene Novack who ran the New York store, Royal Saree House told that he had been selling it mainly to the Indian women in New York area but later many American business women and housewives became his customers who preferred their saris to resemble the full gown of the western world. He also said that men appeared intrigued by the fragility and the femininity it confers on the wearer. Newcomers to the sari report that it is comfortable to wear, requiring no girdles or stockings and that the flowing garb feels so feminine with unusual grace.
As a nod to the fashion-forward philosophy established by the designs of Emilio Pucci, the now-defunct Braniff International Airways envisioned their air hostesses wearing a more revealing version of a sari on a proposed Dallas-Bombay (conceivably via London) service in the late 1970s. However this was never realised because of Halston's resistance to working with a palette outside of his comfort zone. The former Eagan, Minnesota–based Northwest Airlines considered issuing saris to flight attendants working the Minneapolis-Amsterdam-Delhi route that began in the 1990s. This never occurred largely because of a union dispute.
The sari has gained its popularity internationally because of the growth of Indian fashion trends globally. Many Bollywood celebrities, like Aishwarya Rai,[48] have worn it at international events representing the Indian culture. In 2010, Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone wanted to represent her country at an international event, wearing the national costume. On her very first red carpet appearance at the Cannes International Film Festival, she stepped out on the red carpet in a Rohit Bal sari.
Even popular Hollywood celebrities have worn this traditional attire. Pamela Anderson made a surprise guest appearance on Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother, dressed in a sari that was specially designed for her by Mumbai-based fashion designer Ashley Rebello. Ashley Judd donned a purple sari at the Youth AIDS Benefit Gala in November 2007 at the Ritz Carlton in Mclean, Virginia. There was an Indian flavour to the red carpet at the annual Fashion Rocks concert in New York, with designer Rocky S walking the ramp along with Jessica, Ashley, Nicole, Kimberly and Melody – the Pussycat Dolls – dressed in saris.
TYPES
While an international image of the modern style sari may have been popularised by airline stewardesses, each region in the Indian subcontinent has developed, over the centuries, its own unique sari style. Following are other well-known varieties, distinct on the basis of fabric, weaving style, or motif, in South Asia:
CENTRAL STYLES
Chanderi Sari – Madhya Pradesh
Maheshwari – Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh
Kosa Silk – Chhattisgarh
Dhokra Silk – Madhya Pradesh
EASTERN STYLES
Tangail Tant Saree – Bangladesh
Jamdani – Bangladesh
Muslin – Bangladesh
Rajshahi Silk (Eri Silk) – Bangladesh
Tussar Silk Saree – Rajshahi Bangladesh
Dhakai Katan – Bangladesh
Khadi Saree – Comilla Bangladesh
Jute Cotton – Bangladesh
Mooga Silk – Assam
Mekhla Cotton – Assam
Dhaniakhali Cotton – West Bengal
Shantipuri Cotton – Shantipur, West Bengal
Phulia Cotton – Phulia, West Bengal
Begumpur Cotton – Begumpur, West Bengal
Garad Saree (Korial) – Murshidabad, West Bengal
Tant Saree – Farshganj, West Bengal
Murshidabad Silk – West Bengal
Baluchari Silk – Bishnupur, Bankura West Bengal
Kantha Silk & Cotton Saree – West Bengal & Bangladesh
Batic Saree – West Bengal & Bangladesh
Sambalpuri Silk & Cotton Saree – Sambalpur, Odisha
Bomkai Silk & Cotton Saree – Bomkai, Ganjam, Odisha
Khandua Silk & Cotton Saree – Nuapatna, Cuttack, Odisha
Sonepuri Silk & Cotton Saree – Subarnapur, Odisha
Berhampuri Silk – Behrampur, Odisha
Mattha Silk Saree – Mayurbhanj, Odisha
Bapta Silk & Cotton Saree – Koraput, Odisha
Tanta Cotton Saree – Balasore, Odisha
Manipuri Tant Saree - Manipur
WESTERN STYLES
Paithani – Maharashtra
Bandhani – Gujarat, Rajasthan, Pakistan
Kota doria – Rajasthan, Pakistan
Lugade – Maharashtra
Patola – Gujarat, Pakistan
SOUTHERN STYLES
Mysore Silk – Karnataka
Ilkal Saree – Karnataka
Molakalmuru Sari – Karnataka
Venkatagiri – Andhra Pradesh
Mangalagiri Silk Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Uppada Silk Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Chirala Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Bandar Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Bandarulanka – Andhra Pradesh
Kuppadam Sarees – Andhra Pradesh
Dharmavaram Silk Saree – Andhra pradesh
Kanchipuram Sari (locally called Kanjivaram Pattu) – Tamil Nadu
Kumbakonam – Tamil Nadu
Thirubuvanam – Tamil Nadu
Coimbatore Cotton Tamil Nadu
Chinnalampattu or Sungudi Tamil Nadu
Balarampuram – Kerala
Mundum Neriyathum – Kerala
Mayilati Silk – Kerala
Kannur Cotton – Kerala
Kalpathi Silk Sarees – Kerala
Maradaka Silk – Kerala
Samudrikapuram Silk and Cotton – Kerala
Pochampally Sari or Puttapaka Sari – Telangana
Gadwal Sari – Telangana
Narayanpet – Telangana or Maharashtra
NORTHERN STYLES
Banarasi – Uttar Pradesh
Shalu – Uttar Pradesh
Tanchoi – Uttar Pradesh
Bagru – Rajasthan, Pakistan
WIKIPEDIA
Ikat, or ikkat, is a dyeing technique used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.
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 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. They are produced in Okinawa islands of Japan, the village of Tenganan in Indonesia, and the villages of Puttapaka and Bhoodan Pochampally in Telangana and Gujarat in India.
TYPES
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.
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.
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. ouble 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. In India double ikat is also woven in Puttapaka, Nalgonda District and is called Puttapaka Saree. In Japan, double ikat is woven in the Okinawa islands where it is called tate-yoko gasuri.
ETYMOLOGY
Ikat is an Indonesian language word, which depending on context, can be the nouns: cord, thread, knot and the finished ikat fabric as well as the verbs "to tie" or "to bind". It has a direct etymological relation to Javanese language of the same word. 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. 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. However, in English a suffix plural 's' is commonly added, as in ikats. This is true in other some other languages. All are correct.
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. In Central and South America, ikat is still common in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico.
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 production.
Double ikat weaving is still found in India, Japan and Indonesia. In Indonesia, it is still woven in Bali, Java, Kalimantan or Borneo and Sumatra.
HISTORY
As textiles do not last well through history, scholars have so far been unable to determine where the technique of ikat originated. Nevertheless, some parts of Asia demonstrates strong ikat traditions which suggest its possible origin; they are Maritime Southeast Asia, Indian subcontinent and Central Asia. However, it probably developed in several different locations independently, since ikat was known to be produced in several pre-Columbian Central and South American cultures.
The term "ikat" has Indonesian origin, and it was introduced into European textile vocabulary back in early 20th century, when the Dutch scholars begin to study the rich textile traditions of East Indies archipelago (today Indonesia).
Uyghurs call it atlas (in IPA [ɛtlɛs]) and use it only for woman's clothing. 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.
PRODUCTION
WARP IKAT
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.
Patterns result from a combination of the warp dye and the weft thread colour. 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 IKAT
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 weave. The weft yarn must be adjusted after each passing of the shuttle to preserve the pattern.
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 Urdu script in weft ikat. In Thailand, weavers make very fine 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 commonly a continuous strand, aberrations or variation in coloration 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 IKAT
Double Ikat is created by resist-dyeing both the warp and weft prior to weaving.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 Gujarat (Cambay). During the colonial era, Dutch merchants used patola as prestigious trade cloths during the peak of the spice trade.
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.
The double ikat of Japan is woven in the Okinawa islands and is called tate-yoko gasuri.
Pochampally Sari, a variety from a small village in Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India is known for silk saris woven in the double Ikat.
The Puttapaka Saree 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 5 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.
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.
OTHER COUNTRIES
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. When the King of Thailand came to the US in 1856, he brought as a gift for President Franklin Pierce fine Cambodian ikat cloth. 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 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'). 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 ethnic Khmer people living in southern Isaan, mainly in Surin, Sisaket and Buriram.
LATIN AMERICA
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.
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. 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.
ACCREDITATION
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.
WIKIPEDIA
. . . in Double Ikat not only the warp gets pattern, so does the weft. This is much more time consuming and complicate.
________________________________________________
Ikat (in Indonesian languages means "bind") is a dyeing technique originating from Indonesia used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.
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 is 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, especially in lining up the weft patterns.
ETYMOLOGY
Ikat is an Indonesian word, which depending on context, can be the nouns: cord, thread, knot, or bundle, also the finished ikat fabric, as well as the verbs "to tie" or "to bind"; the term ikatan is a noun for bond or tie. It has a direct etymological relation to cognates in 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. 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.
HISTORY OF IKAT
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).
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. 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.
TYPES OF IKAT
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.
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 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. In Japan, double ikat is woven in the Okinawa islands where it is called tate-yoko gasuri.
DISTRIBUTION
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 Sumatra 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.
PRODUKTION
WARP IKAT
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 IKAT
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 IKAT
Double ikat is created by resist-dyeing both the warp and weft prior to weaving. 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.
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.
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.
The double ikat of Japan is woven in the Okinawa islands and is called tate-yoko gasuri.
Pochampally Saree, a variety from a small village in Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India is known for silk saris woven in the double Ikat.
The Puttapaka Saree 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.
ŌSHIMA
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.
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.
OTHER COUNTRIES
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. When the King of Thailand came to the US in 1856, he brought as a gift for President Franklin Pierce fine Cambodian ikat cloth.[18] 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.
THAILAND
In Thailand, the local weft ikat type of woven cloth is known as Matmi (also spelled 'Mudmee' or 'Mudmi'). 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.
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.
LATIN AMERICA
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. 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.
ACCREDITATION
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.
WIKIPEDIA
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. . . in Double Ikat not only the warp gets pattern, so does the weft. This is much more time consuming and complicate.
________________________________________________
Ikat (in Indonesian languages means "bind") is a dyeing technique originating from Indonesia used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.
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 is 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, especially in lining up the weft patterns.
ETYMOLOGY
Ikat is an Indonesian word, which depending on context, can be the nouns: cord, thread, knot, or bundle, also the finished ikat fabric, as well as the verbs "to tie" or "to bind"; the term ikatan is a noun for bond or tie. It has a direct etymological relation to cognates in 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. 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.
HISTORY OF IKAT
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).
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. 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.
TYPES OF IKAT
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.
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 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. In Japan, double ikat is woven in the Okinawa islands where it is called tate-yoko gasuri.
DISTRIBUTION
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 Sumatra 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.
PRODUKTION
WARP IKAT
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 IKAT
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 IKAT
Double ikat is created by resist-dyeing both the warp and weft prior to weaving. 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.
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.
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.
The double ikat of Japan is woven in the Okinawa islands and is called tate-yoko gasuri.
Pochampally Saree, a variety from a small village in Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India is known for silk saris woven in the double Ikat.
The Puttapaka Saree 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.
ŌSHIMA
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.
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.
OTHER COUNTRIES
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. When the King of Thailand came to the US in 1856, he brought as a gift for President Franklin Pierce fine Cambodian ikat cloth.[18] 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.
THAILAND
In Thailand, the local weft ikat type of woven cloth is known as Matmi (also spelled 'Mudmee' or 'Mudmi'). 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.
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.
LATIN AMERICA
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. 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.
ACCREDITATION
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.
WIKIPEDIA
Ikat, or ikkat, is a dyeing technique used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.
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 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. They are produced in Okinawa islands of Japan, the village of Tenganan in Indonesia, and the villages of Puttapaka and Bhoodan Pochampally in Telangana and Gujarat in India.
TYPES
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.
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.
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. ouble 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. In India double ikat is also woven in Puttapaka, Nalgonda District and is called Puttapaka Saree. In Japan, double ikat is woven in the Okinawa islands where it is called tate-yoko gasuri.
ETYMOLOGY
Ikat is an Indonesian language word, which depending on context, can be the nouns: cord, thread, knot and the finished ikat fabric as well as the verbs "to tie" or "to bind". It has a direct etymological relation to Javanese language of the same word. 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. 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. However, in English a suffix plural 's' is commonly added, as in ikats. This is true in other some other languages. All are correct.
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. In Central and South America, ikat is still common in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico.
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 production.
Double ikat weaving is still found in India, Japan and Indonesia. In Indonesia, it is still woven in Bali, Java, Kalimantan or Borneo and Sumatra.
HISTORY
As textiles do not last well through history, scholars have so far been unable to determine where the technique of ikat originated. Nevertheless, some parts of Asia demonstrates strong ikat traditions which suggest its possible origin; they are Maritime Southeast Asia, Indian subcontinent and Central Asia. However, it probably developed in several different locations independently, since ikat was known to be produced in several pre-Columbian Central and South American cultures.
The term "ikat" has Indonesian origin, and it was introduced into European textile vocabulary back in early 20th century, when the Dutch scholars begin to study the rich textile traditions of East Indies archipelago (today Indonesia).
Uyghurs call it atlas (in IPA [ɛtlɛs]) and use it only for woman's clothing. 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.
PRODUCTION
WARP IKAT
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.
Patterns result from a combination of the warp dye and the weft thread colour. 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 IKAT
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 weave. The weft yarn must be adjusted after each passing of the shuttle to preserve the pattern.
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 Urdu script in weft ikat. In Thailand, weavers make very fine 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 commonly a continuous strand, aberrations or variation in coloration 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 IKAT
Double Ikat is created by resist-dyeing both the warp and weft prior to weaving.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 Gujarat (Cambay). During the colonial era, Dutch merchants used patola as prestigious trade cloths during the peak of the spice trade.
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.
The double ikat of Japan is woven in the Okinawa islands and is called tate-yoko gasuri.
Pochampally Sari, a variety from a small village in Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India is known for silk saris woven in the double Ikat.
The Puttapaka Saree 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 5 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.
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.
OTHER COUNTRIES
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. When the King of Thailand came to the US in 1856, he brought as a gift for President Franklin Pierce fine Cambodian ikat cloth. 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 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'). 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 ethnic Khmer people living in southern Isaan, mainly in Surin, Sisaket and Buriram.
LATIN AMERICA
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.
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. 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.
ACCREDITATION
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.
WIKIPEDIA
. . . in Double Ikat not only the warp gets a pattern, so does the weft. This is much more time consuming and complicate.
________________________________________________
Ikat (in Indonesian languages means "bind") is a dyeing technique originating from Indonesia used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.
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 is 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, especially in lining up the weft patterns.
ETYMOLOGY
Ikat is an Indonesian word, which depending on context, can be the nouns: cord, thread, knot, or bundle, also the finished ikat fabric, as well as the verbs "to tie" or "to bind"; the term ikatan is a noun for bond or tie. It has a direct etymological relation to cognates in 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. 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.
HISTORY OF IKAT
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).
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. 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.
TYPES OF IKAT
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.
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 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. In Japan, double ikat is woven in the Okinawa islands where it is called tate-yoko gasuri.
DISTRIBUTION
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 Sumatra 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.
PRODUKTION
WARP IKAT
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 IKAT
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 IKAT
Double ikat is created by resist-dyeing both the warp and weft prior to weaving. 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.
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.
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.
The double ikat of Japan is woven in the Okinawa islands and is called tate-yoko gasuri.
Pochampally Saree, a variety from a small village in Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India is known for silk saris woven in the double Ikat.
The Puttapaka Saree 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.
ŌSHIMA
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.
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.
OTHER COUNTRIES
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. When the King of Thailand came to the US in 1856, he brought as a gift for President Franklin Pierce fine Cambodian ikat cloth.[18] 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.
THAILAND
In Thailand, the local weft ikat type of woven cloth is known as Matmi (also spelled 'Mudmee' or 'Mudmi'). 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.
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.
LATIN AMERICA
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. 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.
ACCREDITATION
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.
WIKIPEDIA
. . . in Double Ikat not only the warp gets pattern, so does the weft. This is much more time consuming and complicate.
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Ikat (in Indonesian languages means "bind") is a dyeing technique originating from Indonesia used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.
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 is 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, especially in lining up the weft patterns.
ETYMOLOGY
Ikat is an Indonesian word, which depending on context, can be the nouns: cord, thread, knot, or bundle, also the finished ikat fabric, as well as the verbs "to tie" or "to bind"; the term ikatan is a noun for bond or tie. It has a direct etymological relation to cognates in 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. 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.
HISTORY OF IKAT
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).
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. 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.
TYPES OF IKAT
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.
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 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. In Japan, double ikat is woven in the Okinawa islands where it is called tate-yoko gasuri.
DISTRIBUTION
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 Sumatra 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.
PRODUKTION
WARP IKAT
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 IKAT
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 IKAT
Double ikat is created by resist-dyeing both the warp and weft prior to weaving. 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.
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.
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.
The double ikat of Japan is woven in the Okinawa islands and is called tate-yoko gasuri.
Pochampally Saree, a variety from a small village in Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India is known for silk saris woven in the double Ikat.
The Puttapaka Saree 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.
ŌSHIMA
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.
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.
OTHER COUNTRIES
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. When the King of Thailand came to the US in 1856, he brought as a gift for President Franklin Pierce fine Cambodian ikat cloth.[18] 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.
THAILAND
In Thailand, the local weft ikat type of woven cloth is known as Matmi (also spelled 'Mudmee' or 'Mudmi'). 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.
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.
LATIN AMERICA
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. 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.
ACCREDITATION
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.
WIKIPEDIA