---
title: "Ikat"
description: "Ikat is a resist-dyeing technique in which the yarns are bound and dyed in patterns before weaving, giving designs with soft, feathered edges."
type: Glossary
url: https://teazle.art/glossary/ikat
published: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-14
author: "The Teazle editors"
---

# Ikat

*Ikat is a resist-dyeing technique in which the yarns are bound and dyed in patterns before weaving, giving designs with soft, feathered edges.*

In ikat the pattern is dyed into the threads, not onto the cloth. Bundles of [warp](https://teazle.art/glossary/warp.md) or [weft](https://teazle.art/glossary/weft.md) yarn (or both, in double ikat) are tied tightly where the dye should not reach, dyed, untied and re-tied for the next colour. When they are woven, the colours line up into a pattern whose edges blur slightly.

## Where is it made?

Across South-East and Central Asia, India, Japan, the Middle East and Latin America. The word is Indonesian/Malay, from a verb meaning to tie or bind. Gujarat’s double-ikat silk patola are among the most demanding textiles ever made.


## Sources

1. [Ikat (AAT 300249861)](http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300249861). Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus
2. [Ikat (definition)](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ikat). Dictionary.com
3. [Glossary: patola](https://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/7/10236/10337). Ashmolean Museum, Yousef Jameel Centre
4. [Ikat (Q140101)](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q140101). Wikidata

Canonical: https://teazle.art/glossary/ikat