Treasures in the house: Ikat

Browsing the web lately shows that Ikat is a big trend at the moment. The Etsy Finds from UK featured a lot of Ikat items on the handmade market this week.


 1. MAYKHA Dress by bluemaykha 2. Bamboo handwoven scarf, ikat-dyed by exclusivelybyv  3. greta panel dress by cristinapires 4. Cushion by GalleriaAust 5. Silk Pillow covers by bluemaykha 6. Ikat Drum Lampshade by StudioJOTA 7. Linen and Silk Cushion by bestill 8. Ikat Pillow - Glorious Silk by MaterialRecovery 9. Vintage Kimono Ikat Silk Sling Bag by momijistudio 10. handwoven ikat pillow by laigrai 11. Padded Ikat Cotton Kindle by JiuJiu

Handmade design blog Poppytalk featured the Indigo Ikat's of Mary Bergtold-Mulcahy for Les Indiennes:

Design #9 - Floral Cross

And even US dicounter Target has a Ikat - bedlinen set on Sale! 

Home Ikat Reversible Comforter Set - Blue from Target

Well, we've our own Ikat story... Ikat is an Indonesian word, which actually means cord, thread or knot. It's a special technique of dying a fabric: The thread gets dyed first and the pattern comes out, if it gets woven. This technique makes a fabric almost as beautiful at the back side, than at the front side.  And it needs a lot of counting and very precise dying work before... For sure, this challenge is only experienced by crafters who do everything by hand. Can you imagine, that some women need some month to finish a piece of Ikat? 


Ulos Maker, originally uploaded by Rudy Suyanto.

No wonder, that a lot of Indonesian ethnics need this kind of fabric for social and religious ceremonies. A Ikat can be symbol of land, power, wisdom, honour... 
We still remember the time, when a lot of handmade Ikats from Eastern Indonesia have been on sale. Our Mom bought them like crazy. We loved to choose the pattern, but start thinking about what to do, with all this dark colored fabric...



Well, you can still find handmade Ikat in Indonesia, but there are a lot of machine mades now and our Mom's collection will be kept untouched for sure! It's a treasure in the house!


a treasury full of beautiful ikat items on etsy

Update: Just found this cute ikat romper by gap via Rebecca Joseph's Pinterest


Kommentare

  1. This article is really made me proud to be an Indonesian! Oh I also have many ikat prints and hand weave ikat here, I will start make new bags from it. The print ones tho, the weave one is so expensive to cut them just like that and will keep it as part of my collection!:))

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  2. what a lovely story ! I think all Indodesian fabrics are so special. The ones your mother bought are gorgeous.

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  3. fascinating post! you put everything words and pics together so well:)

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