Brick Red, White & Olive Silk Ikat Fabric – Arrow Leaves

A red-ground ikat, which photographs less often than the multicolours but sells as well: a brick red that leans towards terracotta, carrying rows of white arrow-shaped leaves with olive-green and blue centres, the tips of every leaf feathered. Red grounds hide the loom’s small irregularities better than white ones, so this cloth looks especially even. Sixty per cent silk, forty cotton.

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: 42 cm (17 in)
• Pattern repeat: about 225 cm
• Main colours: brick red ground; white; olive green; blue
• Design / motif: arrow-shaped leaf motifs on a red 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: dry-clean recommended; if washing, by hand at 30 °C with a mild detergent, dry in the shade, iron on the reverse

Suitable uses

Evening kaftans and wrap dresses, a lined jacket, cushion fronts on a neutral sofa, a Christmas table runner. Pieces well because the motif is small. 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.