Ikat, cotton saree from Indonesia: what it is and how it is worn

Ikat is a resist-dyeing and weaving method: weavers tie bundles of yarn, dye them, then weave, so the pattern sits in the threads and shows on both faces. It comes from Southeast Asia and is linked with Indonesia; in India it appears in Odisha's Khandua, Gujarat's Patan patola and Puttapaka, and the cloth is made into saris and sarongs.

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The word ikat comes from Malay and means to tie or bind.
The resist is tied into yarns before weaving, so both faces show the pattern.
Double ikat is made in only three countries: India, Japan and Indonesia.
Patan patola is a double-ikat silk sari, sometimes six metres long.
Torajan ikat cloths, called porilonjong, serve as funeral shrouds.

What is Ikat?

Ikat is a way of making cloth by tying and dyeing yarns before they go to the loom. The bindings stop dye from reaching chosen parts of the thread. When the yarns are woven, the coloured sections meet to form the design. Because the pattern is in the yarn, both sides of the fabric carry it. The method is used for saris, sarongs and other garments. In India it is tied to Khandua cloth from Odisha, Patan patola in Gujarat and Puttapaka in Nalgonda district, while weavers in Indonesia, Japan and other parts of Asia also use it.

Where does Ikat come from?

Warp ikat traditions in Southeast Asia are thought to go back to Neolithic weaving, more than 6,000 years old, in mainland Asia. They are linked to Austronesian and Daic-speaking peoples and travelled with the Austronesian expansion, reaching Madagascar by the first millennium BC. A 2012 study rejected the older idea that Austronesians learned ikat from the Dong Son culture of Vietnam. Similar dyeing traditions arose separately in India and Central Asia. The word ikat is Malay and entered European use through Rouffaer; today the technique is most often associated with Indonesia.

How is Ikat made?

Yarns of cotton, silk or wool are wound on a tying frame and split into bundles. A worker binds tight sections in the pattern, then dyes the bundle. The binding can be changed for each new colour, so many rounds of tying and dyeing produce multicoloured cloth. After the last dye bath the bindings come off and the yarns are placed on the loom. Bamboo strips may hold the warp in line. Warp ikat is the simpler form. Weft ikat is slower because the weft is adjusted after every shuttle pass. Double ikat dyes both sets of yarns and is the hardest.

Ikat, drawn

The cloth Field indigo with white, peacock motif. Drawn from this page, not from one saree.

Draped A sketch of the usual Nivi wrap in this saree's colours.

Ikat: yarn is resist-dyed before weaving, so the finished pattern has a soft, feathered edge.

Plain weave: the weft thread goes over one warp thread and under the next, then the reverse on the next row.

Colours, motifs and borders

Ikat designs often look slightly blurred. The effect comes from the difficulty of lining up dyed yarns so the motif lands perfectly during weaving. Finer yarn and greater skill can sharpen the outline, and complex, many-coloured work is more difficult and costs more. Some traditions prefer the soft edge. In warp ikat the pattern can be seen on the loom before the weft is added. Patterns may be mirrored around a centre line, repeated as small motifs, or drawn as pictures. Known colours include indigo, white, black, red, yellow, blue and purple.

How Ikat is worn

The sources do not describe one fixed drape. Ikat cloth is worn as a sari or a sarong. A Patan double-ikat sari can be six metres long, with a small motif repeated along its length or a pictorial design without repeats. In Bali, silk sarongs in weft ikat carry bird and geometric patterns. In Central Asia, Uyghur atlas was used for women's clothing, with different colours linked to age and marriage.

When Ikat is worn

In Iran, ikat called daraee was a wealthy fabric and could be part of a bride's dowry. Among the Toraja of Sulawesi, an ikat cloth called porilonjong served as a funeral shroud. Uyghur atlas was worn by women, with black associated with older women, red with girls, and yellow, blue or purple with married women. The sources do not set a single festival or daily use for all ikat.

Styles of Ikat

The main types are warp ikat, weft ikat and double ikat. Double ikat is sometimes called compound ikat when the two patterns do not overlap exactly. Regional names include kasuri in Japan, endek in Bali, daraee in Iran and atlas among Uyghurs. In India, Khandua is linked to Odisha, patola to Patan and Puttapaka sari to Nalgonda district. Double ikat is made in only three countries: India, Japan and Indonesia. In the Ryukyu Islands it is called tate-yoko gasuri.

What Ikat means

Ikat carries local identity and status. Patan patola was traded by the Dutch East India Company for spice rights with Indonesian sultanates, and some motifs in Tenganan, Bali, come from patola. In Iran, daraee meant wealth and appeared in dowries. Among Uyghurs, historical records list 27 atlas types under Qing rule, with four remaining today. The sources give no Geographical Indication for ikat as a whole.

Questions people ask about Ikat

What is ikat?

Ikat is a resist-dyeing method used on yarns. Parts of the threads are bound tightly so dye cannot reach them, and the yarns are then woven. The pattern therefore sits in the threads and appears on both sides of the cloth.

Where does ikat come from?

The technique comes from Southeast Asia and its name is Malay. It is most associated with Indonesia today. Related traditions also exist in India, Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines and other regions, some of them developed independently.

How is ikat made?

Bundles of cotton, silk or wool are tied in a pattern, dyed, and tied again for further colours. The bindings are removed, the yarns are put on the loom, and the weft is woven in. Warp, weft and double ikat refer to which yarns were dyed.

What is double ikat?

Double ikat means both the warp and weft yarns are resist-dyed before weaving. It is the hardest and most expensive form. The sources say it is made in only three countries: India, Japan and Indonesia. Patan patola in Gujarat is one example.

Why does ikat look blurry?

The soft edges come from the difficulty of lining up dyed yarns so the pattern meets perfectly during weaving. Finer yarns or greater skill can sharpen it. Some traditions prize the blur, while others work for precise alignment.

Good reading and sources

Where this page comes from

The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Ikat", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryPallu rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.

It may contain mistakes. Traditions, weaves and prices differ from one weaver, town or shop to the next, and it is not buying advice. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-11-11.

Ikat