Ikat Fever

Last weekend, someone asked me what an ikat pattern was, and I didn't have a really good answer for her.  I could easily point one out, but words kinda failed me when I was trying to describe it.  I think I ended up saying, "It's kind of a tribal, kind of stylized geometric or floral design.  But, like wavy or kinda blurry."

I tried pulling up a photo of ikat fabric to show her what I was failing to describe accurately, but the Marketplace section of Ikea is a total dead zone for cell phone reception.

So I looked up "ikat" on Dictionary.com and this is what they came up with for me:

i·kat

   [ee-kaht]  Show IPA

noun

1.

a method of printing woven fabric by tie-dyeing the warpyarns (warp ikat),  the weft yarns (weft ikat),  or both(double ikat)  before weaving.

2.

a fabric made by this method.

Say what?

And if you don't have a ready knowledge of how fabric is made, (which most people don't) then this definition doesn't do you a darn bit of good.  And even if you do, it doesn't translate to the beautiful patterns that the technique creates.

Here, allow me.

Calico Corners, the venerable fabric super-supplier, has these.

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Ballard Designs, a site I love, has several ikat prints that are really nice.  If you noticed, I used this one in my Inspiration Board for the Dining Room.

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I really like that its a subtle print, so it will go with a lot of different accent colors.  The best part?  It's by Sunbrella, so you can clean it easily without worrying that you'll damage the fabric.  Great for a house with kids or dogs.

This one is a fun punch of color.  Great for a bedroom accent chair or pillows.  They also have it in grey.

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Here's one with more of a linear motif.

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And one more from Ballard Designs for good measure.  It's a lovely mix of blue, ivory, green, mustard, and rusty-copper.

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Ballard offers these fabrics by-the-yard (in case you want to make curtains or upholster your own piece), and also as seating fabric for their Special Order Pick-A-Fabric upholstered pieces.  I'm really loving this Simone Bench in the Malabar Coral ikat with the Driftwood finish on the legs.

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The pattern is also popping up in rugs.  Here are two from Ballard.

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This month, House Beautiful has selected a gorgeous grouping of ikat rugs (page 66 if you read the magazine).  You can view their slideshow here.

And if all that wasn't enough, here are some lovely pillows to drool over.

This one's from Crate and Barrel.

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Here's one from West Elm.

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Happy shopping!  I'm going to be on the lookout for more ikat patterns tomorrow at the Country Living fair in Columbus!