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What is ikat, and what is Uzbek ikat?

Ikat is a way of dyeing, not a fibre. Bundles of warp thread are wrapped tightly wherever the dye must not reach, dipped, unwrapped, wrapped again for the next colour and dipped again — up to seven or eight times for a rich piece — and only then put on the loom. Because the dyed threads never line up perfectly, the finished motif has a feathered edge. The word ikat is Malay for "to tie"; in Margilan the cloth is abr, Persian for cloud. The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art, which holds some seventy nineteenth-century pieces, glosses abrbandi as "tying clouds"; we walk through every stage of the work in our guide to making ikat the traditional way. Central Asian ikat is warp ikat: only the lengthwise threads carry the pattern and the crossing weft is plain, so the pattern shows through on the back of an adras but only on the face of a satin-weave atlas. A longer introduction is on our What is Ikat page.

The four cloths we sell

Cotton ikat — pure cotton, matt, the everyday cloth of the Fergana Valley. Firm enough for cushions, curtains and light upholstery, and washable at 30 °C. About 140 of the fabrics on this page are cotton.

Adras — the half-silk, half-cotton plain weave with a soft glow rather than a shine. The most common handwoven ikat and the one we recommend when a garment has to be worn hard; it also takes a chair seat well. You will find it in both the silk and the cotton sections, always with the blend stated.

Silk ikat — our largest section: silk-rich cloths woven with 50 to 70 per cent silk in the warp and cotton in the weft, which in Margilan is still called adras when the blend is even and shoyi when the silk dominates. Lighter and glossier than cotton, with the drape you want for dresses, kaftans and scarves. Pure-silk atlas appears here from time to time and is labelled as such.

Silk velvet ikat (bakhmal) — the pattern is in the silk pile, so the colour shifts as you walk past it. It is woven 40 cm wide, it is the most labour-intensive cloth on the site, and it makes a sofa cushion look like a jewel.

Widths, repeats and how much to buy

A hand loom in Margilan is narrow, so most ikat is 40–42 cm (15–16 in) wide and the design repeats along the length — on many of our silk-cotton cloths every 225 cm, and the repeat is stated on the product page where we have measured it. That changes how you plan a project: a 45 × 45 cm cushion front takes half a metre; a pair of curtains is pieced from strips and seamed at the repeat; a knee-length dress on a 40 cm cloth usually needs 7–10 metres. For anything wider, look at the 50 cm and 65 cm sections (the 65 cm section also holds our one 90 cm cloth). We cut from one metre upwards. If you tell us the project, we will tell you the metres; for ideas, see what ikat fabric is used for.

Handwoven or printed — how to tell

Turn it over. On a handwoven adras the pattern is as clear on the back as on the front, because it is in the thread; a print shows a pale ghost. Look at the motif edges: clouded on ikat, crisp on a print. Run a finger across it: the weave has texture and small irregularities, and no two metres are identical. There is a longer comparison in handwoven versus printed ikat. The 40–42 cm cloths on this site are all handloom; the wider cloths are described individually on their product pages.

Where the cloth comes from

Margilan has been the centre of Uzbek silk weaving for as long as anyone has records (there is a short history of silk production in Uzbekistan on the blog). Under the Soviet system private weaving was banned and production moved to a state mill; the small family workshops came back after 1991 and, one by one, outlived the factory. Abdulla's is one of them; you can read more about him on our About page. The city's Crafts Development Centre, which trains around a hundred young weavers a year, was entered on UNESCO's Register of Good Safeguarding Practices in 2017 for keeping atlas and adras weaving alive. He draws the pattern on the stretched warp, his binders tie the resists, the dyers work the vats, and the weavers — in Margilan usually women — weave on painted wooden frame looms with a weight hanging from the warp for tension. We visit, we argue about colours, and we have done so for twelve years.

Dyes — an honest note

Old Uzbek ikat was dyed with indigo, madder and larkspur. When conservators at the Smithsonian analysed 26 nineteenth-century ikats from the Goldman collection (Tamburini and colleagues, Heritage Science, 2020), they found cochineal, madder and lac in the reds, larkspur and pagoda-tree buds in the yellows and indigo in the blues — and early synthetic dyes such as fuchsine in a third of the pieces, because aniline colours reached the Fergana Valley within a few decades of their invention in the 1850s. By the Soviet period synthetic dyes were the norm. Today Margilan workshops use both. Where a cloth on this site is dyed with natural dyes, the product page says so. Where it does not say, assume good-quality synthetic dyes, which are colourfast and wash better. We would rather tell you than sell you a story.

Caring for ikat

Cotton and silk-cotton: hand wash at 30 °C with a mild detergent or shampoo, no soaking, no wringing, dry flat in the shade, iron on the reverse while slightly damp. Pure silk and velvet: dry-clean, or hand wash only if you are used to silk and accept a little softening. Never bleach. Reds and indigos can bleed on the first wash, so wash them alone. Each product page repeats the care line for that cloth, and there is a fuller guide in how to wash ikat fabric.

Sustainability, briefly

A hand loom uses no electricity. The fibres are cotton and silk grown and reeled in the Fergana Valley, the batches are small, and the cloth is made to last a generation rather than a season. We think that is the whole argument, so we will leave it there.

Trade, designers and larger orders

We supply interior designers, dressmakers and shops. For bolts, pattern-matched cutting, sample packs or repeat dyelots, write to us with the metres you need and the deadline; we answer ourselves, usually within a day. Much of this cloth ends up as our own ikat pillow covers and robes and kaftans, if you would rather buy it made up.

Frequently asked questions

What is ikat fabric?

Ikat is a cloth whose pattern is dyed into the threads before weaving: bundles of warp are bound, dipped and re-bound for each colour, so the motif sits inside the weave with a soft, feathered edge. The word comes from Malay mengikat, "to tie".

What is Uzbek ikat?

Uzbek ikat is warp ikat handwoven in the Fergana Valley, above all in Margilan, in silk, silk-cotton (adras) or cotton. In Uzbek it is called abr, "cloud", after the blurred edges of the pattern. Alesouk's ikat is woven in Margilan and shipped from Bukhara.

Do you sell ikat fabric by the yard or by the metre?

By the metre. One unit in the cart is one metre, which is 1.09 yards, cut to order from one metre upwards. If you think in yards, order the nearest number of metres and we round up, not down.

How wide is Uzbek ikat fabric?

Most Uzbek ikat is 40–42 cm (15–16 in) wide, the width of a traditional Margilan hand loom. Alesouk also stocks 50 cm and 65 cm cloths, each in its own section, and a single 90 cm cloth listed with the 65s, and the width is the first line on every product page.

Is Alesouk's ikat handwoven or printed?

Handwoven. The pattern is dyed into the threads before weaving, so it shows on the back of the cloth as clearly as on the front; a printed "ikat" shows only a ghost on the reverse and has crisp, not clouded, edges.

What is the difference between cotton ikat, adras and silk ikat?

Cotton ikat is 100% cotton, matt, washable and the cheapest, about $7–15 a metre at Alesouk. Adras and shoyi are silk-cotton blends (50–70% silk in the warp, cotton in the weft), glossier, with the drape for dresses, about $13–19 a metre. Silk velvet ikat (bakhmal) carries the pattern in a silk pile and is the most labour-intensive cloth we sell.

Can ikat fabric be washed?

Cotton and silk-cotton ikat, yes: hand wash at 30 °C with a mild detergent, no soaking or wringing, dry flat in the shade, iron on the reverse while damp. Silk velvet should be dry-cleaned. Reds and indigos can bleed on the first wash, so wash them alone.

How much ikat fabric do I need for a dress or a cushion?

On a 40 cm-wide cloth a knee-length dress usually needs 7–10 metres; a 45 × 45 cm cushion front takes half a metre; a pair of curtains is pieced from strips seamed at the repeat. Tell us the project and we will confirm the metres before you order.

Can I get a sample first?

Yes. Alesouk's three-swatch sample pack costs a few cents and ships tracked, the same way as the cloth, so you can check colour and weight before buying metres.

How long does shipping take, and will I pay customs duty?

Orders leave Bukhara, Uzbekistan within 24 hours (custom cuts within 2–3 days) by tracked airmail: USA 9–18 working days, Europe and the UK 8–16, elsewhere 10–20. Duties, where your country charges them, are the buyer's responsibility. Wholesale and designer orders are welcome; tell us the cloth, the metres and the deadline.