Beautiful Vintage Antique East Sumba Ikatt Cotton Textile from Indonesia 1980s

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Beautiful Vintage Antique East Sumba Ikatt Cotton Textile from Indonesia 1980s:
$95.00

I am very excited to bring this cotton Warp Ikatt Textile to you for your purchase. It is perfect example of a warp Ikatt as the design appears to be perfect. This Ikatt hinggi (man\'s should or hip wrap) is 92-1/2 inches long and 51-1/2 inches wide with characteristic designs from the Sumbanese tribe in East Sumba on the Island of Sumba. The ends and the middle are characterized with elaborate weaving in a completely different pattern. The end borders are my favorite.

Once the weft and warp yarns have been suitably dyed and dried, the weaver lines them up on the loom to form the pattern. The design takes form as the yarn is woven into cloth. This is an incredibly complicated process, as the weaver has to precisely dye the threads, and place them correctly so it forms the correct pattern when woven. Just to reiterate how hard this is…in order to replicate a pattern, the weaverwould have to dye the thread in exactly the same place as beforeANDline it up on a loom in EXACTLY the same placeANDthen they’d have to weave it exactly the same way. In most cases one end mirrors the other and the left side of a panel mirrors the right. Two identical panels are dyed, woven and then joined. The technique is very labor-intensive and so the designer, usually the weaver, double up on the setting out and dying so that two cloths are constructed at the same time.

There are three different Ikat weaving techniques. These arewarp ikat,weft ikatanddouble ikat. Let’s take a look at what each of them are.

Warp Ikat

In warp Ikat, the weft yarns are all dyed a solid colour and only the warp yarns are Ikat dyed. Here, the pattern is clearly visible when the threads are wound on the loom, and weaving in the weft threads solidifies the colour and completes the fabric formation.

Weft Ikat

In weft ikat, it is the weft threads that are ikat dyed. This type of weaving is more difficult than warp ikat, as the pattern will be formed only as the weaving progresses. This means that the weaver has toconstantly centre and re-adjust the yarns to ensure the pattern is formed correctly.

Double Ikat

The most complicated of the three, double ikat, is where both the warp and weft threads are resist-dyed prior to weaving. This technique requires advanced skill, takes time and hence is the most expensive. Double Ikatt is not found in Sumba.

These are the various steps involved in creating an Ikat fabric:

The desired pattern is first drawn on the warp and weft yarns by hand.
The weaver then ties these yarns to match the planned pattern. The threads are then dyed in the specific colors, so that the colors seep into the yarn at the appropriate positions.
The ties on the yarn are untied, and the yarns are strung on the loom. In warp and double ikat, the pattern emerges on the loom at this stage.
The fabric is then woven together, and the colorful pattern of motifs emerges on it