Ikat Saree Weaving - Sambalpur, Orissa
Ikat saree weaving gets initiated by a dyeing technique that is used to pattern fabrics that use resist dyeing of the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the cloth. Keeping the design in mind a proper chart of warp and weft is visualized on a graph paper for this particular style of weaving. Later as per the chart, the design is carefully transferred on weft and warp. In Ikat, the threads of warp and weft are measured carefully and the resist is formed by binding individual yarns or bundles of yarns with a firm wrapping applied in the preferred pattern. To keep the dyes from penetrating tightly bound bundles are covered with wax. These yarns are then dyed. If a new pattern is required to create then the bindings of the yarns may be altered at this stage and the yarns are dyed again with another preferred colour. This process (dye baths) may be repeated several times to get the flexibility to create textiles that produce complex multicoloured, multi-textured and multi-layered patterns. The pattern is visible to the weaver when the dyed threads are used as warp. These tie-dyed yarns are used either as warp yarns or as the weft yarns or sometimes even as both. Once the dyeing process is completed, it is dried and all the bindings are detached. These yarns are spun using the winding machine. Thus the required length of yarn is spun and cut off from the yarns that are on the winding machine. Those threads are woven into a fabric. This particular procedure is unique in Ikat as the resist is applied to the yarns prior and then they are woven into cloth. Since the surface design is created in the yarns rather than on the finished cloth.
These Ikat fabrics manufactured in Odisha are silk. They are woven by hand on a narrow loom in a labour-intensive process. Plain Ikat fabrics have different resist patterns thus it looks similar on both the sides of textile. There is no right and left sides to the cloth.
The easiest method to create Ikat is dyeing the warp than the weft. Before attaching the warp strings to the loom they are arranged in the bundle and they are individually tie-dyed so that the pattern is visible when the loom is set up. The tie-dyed warp threads are further loaded to the beam. This beam is placed in the loom and the yarns are knotted to the previous ones on the loom to begin the process of weaving. Thus by using the shuttle-pit loom or by using the fly-shuttle loom sarees are weaved in different patterns.
Flow Chart
