Tenun Ikat Indonesia - Ikat Fabric Indonesia – Ikat Fabric Stylish and Elegant – Sentra Kerajinan Tenun Ikat Asli Indonesia

Handwoven Ikat Fabric

Ikat or sometimes written ikkat is a technique of dyeing that is used to make patterns on textiles. The dyeing technique used in ikat is a resist dyeing process on the warp fibres or the weft fibres. Other variation of ikat is ikat ganda or double ikat, where the warp and weft fibres are dyed prior to weaving.

The word ikat comes from an Indonesian language word, it can be the nouns: knot, cord, thread, and as well as the verbs “to tie” or “to bind”. The word ikat is semantically related to the same word in Javanese language.

To make patterns in ikat, binding bundles of threads with a tight wrapping applied will form the resist, after that the next process would be dyeing the threads. Multicolored patterns are made by altering the bindings and dyeing the thread bundles again with another color. After finishing the dyeing, the next process would be removal of the bindings. Now the threads are ready to be woven into cloth. Other resist-dyeing techniques such as tie-dye and stamped batik, the color is applied to only one face of the woven cloth, but in ikat the dyeing process of the threads is done before the weaving process, so the result would be essentially identical in appearance in both faces of the cloth.

There are three types of ikat, warp ikat, weft ikat, and ikat ganda or double ikat. In warp ikat, the warp threads are colored and the pattern would be clearly visible in the warp threads on the loom. In weft ikat, the weft threads are colored with patterns which only appear after the weaving process. The weaving process of weft ikat is much slower than the warp ikat, because to maintain the clarity of the pattern the passes of the weft must be carefully adjusted. The process of ikat ganda or can be translated as double ikat, is mixing between warp and weft ikat. The dyeing process involved both the warp and weft threads. After the dyeing process, we can see clearly the patterns on the threads but after putting the threads on the loom, and weave the threads into clothes, the pattern would be totally different than the pattern we saw before the process.

The weaving process of weft ikat is much slower than the warp ikat, because to maintain the clarity of the pattern passes of the weft must be carefully adjusted. The process of ikat ganda or can be translated as double ikat, is mixing between warp and weft ikat. The dyeing process involved both the warp and weft threads. After the dyeing process, we can see clearly the patterns on the threads but after putting the threads on the loom, and weave the threads into clothes, the pattern would be totally different than the pattern we saw before the process.

Handwoven ikat fabric is most characteristic of Indonesia, from Sumatra Island to Papua; they have their own ikat patterns and processes. Almost every tribe in Indonesia has the unique handwoven ikat fabric processing and patterning. In most tribes in Indonesia, the handwoven ikat clothes are usually used for ruling royalty, ceremonies, and also the sign of nobility.