Ikat - Double Ikat

Double Ikat

Double Ikat is where both warp and weft are tie-dyed or more specifically, employs a variety of tie-dye resist techniques.

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 imitations 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 and Indonesia as patola (singular: patolu). These were typically from Gujarat (Cambay) and used 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.

Bhoodan Pochampally, a small village in Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India is known for its exquisite silk sarees woven in the double Ikat “tie and dye” style.

Before the weaving is done, a manual process of winding of yarn called Asu needs to be performed. This process takes up to 5 hours per saree and is usually done by the womenfolk, who suffer tremendous physical strain due to constantly moving their hand back and forth over 9000 times for each saree. In 1999, a young weaver C Mallesham developed a machine which automated the Asu process, thus developing a technological solution for a decades-old unsolved problem.