Slate Blue, Sand & White Silk Ikat Fabric – Large Palmettes

A soft two-colour palette on white: slate blue palmettes, big enough that two fill the width, with sand-coloured leaves between them and the white ground showing through the feathered edges. It is one of the calmest cloths in the silk section and one of the most used for curtains, where the blue reads grey in shade and blue in sun. Sixty per cent silk, forty cotton, 40 cm wide with a 225 cm repeat.

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: white ground; slate blue; sand
• Design / motif: large feathered palmettes
• 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

Curtains and blinds seamed at the repeat, a summer dress, a bedhead panel, cushion fronts against white or oatmeal. 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.