Cotton cloth with pattern of stylized human figures in warp ikat

Unknown artist

Ikat is a technique in which the threads of a fabric are first tied off according to a pattern, after which they are dipped in a dye bath. The tied off parts are not dyed. This process can be repeated a number of times, so that a multi-coloured pattern is created.Depending on whether the dyeing process has been applied to the warp, weft or both threads, this technique is called warp-ikat, weft-ikat and double-ikat. The first is the most common.Before the threads are tied off, they are often folded over each other, both lengthwise and widthwise. With such a method, the motifs appear in mirror image.