Chocolate Brown & Pink Silk Ikat Fabric – Abr Clouds

Abr is the old Persian and Uzbek word for ikat — literally ‘cloud’, for the blurred edges the technique leaves — and this cloth wears the name well: pink, white and grey shapes drift across a dark chocolate-brown ground with no hard outline anywhere. The brown is unusual in the shop and makes the pink look expensive rather than sweet. Sixty per cent silk, forty cotton; 40 cm wide.

Product details

• Product type: handwoven ikat fabric, sold by the metre
• Origin: Margilan, Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan
• Weaving technique: warp ikat — the threads are tie-dyed before weaving; handloom, no power looms
• Composition: 60% silk, 40% cotton
• Width: 40 cm (16 in)
• Pattern repeat: about 225 cm
• Main colours: chocolate brown ground; pink; white; grey
• Design / motif: feathered cloud (abr) motifs on a dark ground
• Sold by: the metre — one unit is 1 m (1.09 yd), cut in one continuous length from 1 m up
• Condition: new, uncut from the bolt
• Care: hand wash at 30 °C with a mild detergent, no wringing, dry in the shade, iron on the reverse; or dry-clean

Suitable uses

An evening dress or a long jacket, a lined waistcoat, cushion fronts on a cream sofa, a headboard panel. Dark grounds show wear least, so it suits pieces that are handled. More cloths of this kind are under Silk Ikats.

Handmade note

Handwoven on a wooden loom, so expect what the loom leaves: motif edges that feather where the warp shifted, a hairline of colour variation along the length, and a selvedge that is not perfectly straight. The pattern is dyed into the thread, not printed on it, and shows on both faces. Colours differ slightly between dyelots, so order the full length you need at once. Washing and pressing are covered in how to wash ikat fabric.

Cut to order and dispatched from Bukhara within 24 hours by Uzbekiston Pochtasi tracked airmail: USA 9–18 working days, Europe and the UK 8–16, elsewhere 10–20.