The Fabric That Is Dyed Before It Becomes Cloth
Most printed fabrics are woven first, then coloured. Ikat reverses that sequence entirely. The threads, warp, weft, or both, are tied, resist-dyed, and dried before a single pass through the loom. By the time the weaver sits down, the pattern already lives in the yarn. The loom's job is to release it. This is why an ikat saree or dupatta has that characteristic soft blur at every edge, the slight feathering where one colour meets another. That blur is not a flaw. It is proof of how the fabric was made.
