Steel Blue, Black & Cream Silk Ikat Fabric – Kumush

Kumush — Uzbek for silver — is the shop’s name for this drawing: steel-blue and black wave stripes feathering across cream, a cool, almost menswear cloth that reads as grey-blue from across a room. Half silk, half 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: 50% silk, 50% cotton
• Width: 40 cm (16 in)
• Main colours: cream ground; steel blue; black
• Design / motif: feathered wave stripes (Kumush design)
• 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

A jacket or waistcoat, trousers, roman blinds, cushion fronts on white or camel. Pairs with the steel-blue chevron (IF0451). 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 — the test described in our handwoven versus printed ikat guide. Colours differ slightly between dyelots, so order the full length you need at once.

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.