Antique Indigo KATAZOME Cotton FABRiC - Hand Woven
This is an indigo-dyed katazome cotton fabric panel from the late Meiji era, perhaps Taisho….or early Showa.. Homespun, hand made fabric. Katazome is a stencil dyeing process. This is probably one panel from a futon cover made of multiple panels.
This is an old hand-woven, hand-dyed, japanese mingei textile treasure!! It is incredible, the time, energy and experience that went into creating this homespun work of art. It has a deep navy hue, and the white of the base fabric is slightly dulled with age, which is the perfect patina. Botyh sides area deep blue, so it is hard to tell which side is front and which back. There are some areas that have what looks to be like smears of nori in areas which have resisted the indigo. See the photos.
This is a relatively medium weight cotton futon cover fabric. When i look closely at the fibers of the weave using a jewelers loop, I can see that they are relatively fuzzy and uneven, of varying widths. This is telltale of handspun fibers and homespun textiies. The selvedges are somewhat uneven. Lots of hand woven flavor.
Katazome is a stencil resist dye process. That means a stencil is used to apply a resist paste, which in this case is nori, a thick paste made from boiled rice. After the resist dries, it becomes basically impenetrable, and the fabric is dyed, most often with indigo. (The benefit of dyeing with indigo over other dyes is that it does not require heating up the liquid, which might start to melt away the resist paste, which becomes soft again with hot water.) The areas where the dried nori is applied 'resist' the indigo dye, which means they remain white and not dyed under that dry rice paste shell. That is the meaning of 'resist dyeing', where the rice paste resists the dye and that area remains white or undyed.
As I stated before, this fabric has areas where nori must have inadvertantly spread and slightly resisted the indigo dye. I imagine it was hard to do the process perfectly, without having that nori everywhere, or without the fabric folding up and the nori going where it’s not supposed to. Little clues like that illuminate the creation process for those who have the eyes. I also see the end has an area that is not dyed, which looks, again, connected to the process. Perhaps it was clipped in that area to make it easy to hang after dyeing, or maybe to dip into the dye and retrieve? It is there for a reason, no doubt. See the third photo.
Some of the antique japanese katazome fabrics have been resist pasted on both sides, and some have just been pasted on just one side. This is a fabric that was pasted on both sides. The backside also shows the design, although there are sloppier areas where some stray rice paste must have made it’s way onto the fabric. We see whitish shadows in the pattern on the back side, like it was difficult to perfectly control applying the sticky nori and they spread some around inadvertently. You can also see places on the textile where the stencil was not matched up on both sides perfectly. See the fourth photo. I like to see these small signs that show the handiwork done to create these pieces, that show they are from a time before machine processes were ubiquitous.
The fabric is in great condition. No holes at all. Only the slighty faded areas i mentioned before.
There are a ton of things you could do with this fabric. Display it!!! Hang it on a wall or across a table. Make a scarf! You could even use it unfinished, as is, depending on your fashion sense. I would. : ) Or you could add a few patches, make it more boro looking with fabrics and stitches, sashiko and other embellishments.
You could also, of course, chop it into bits for use in smaller projects of all sorts. Collage, scrapbooking, little sewing projects galore!! Or it could be a part of your rainy day fabric stash. Or a gift for a friend?? and on.....I am sure you have even better ideas.
This has been washed and can be washed again, in hot water and detergent.
dimensions
167 cms long x 34 cms wide
66 inches x 13.5 inches
81 grams
Share this listing and my shop all over the place, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, the local corkboard, tell the cat.
This is an indigo-dyed katazome cotton fabric panel from the late Meiji era, perhaps Taisho….or early Showa.. Homespun, hand made fabric. Katazome is a stencil dyeing process. This is probably one panel from a futon cover made of multiple panels.
This is an old hand-woven, hand-dyed, japanese mingei textile treasure!! It is incredible, the time, energy and experience that went into creating this homespun work of art. It has a deep navy hue, and the white of the base fabric is slightly dulled with age, which is the perfect patina. Botyh sides area deep blue, so it is hard to tell which side is front and which back. There are some areas that have what looks to be like smears of nori in areas which have resisted the indigo. See the photos.
This is a relatively medium weight cotton futon cover fabric. When i look closely at the fibers of the weave using a jewelers loop, I can see that they are relatively fuzzy and uneven, of varying widths. This is telltale of handspun fibers and homespun textiies. The selvedges are somewhat uneven. Lots of hand woven flavor.
Katazome is a stencil resist dye process. That means a stencil is used to apply a resist paste, which in this case is nori, a thick paste made from boiled rice. After the resist dries, it becomes basically impenetrable, and the fabric is dyed, most often with indigo. (The benefit of dyeing with indigo over other dyes is that it does not require heating up the liquid, which might start to melt away the resist paste, which becomes soft again with hot water.) The areas where the dried nori is applied 'resist' the indigo dye, which means they remain white and not dyed under that dry rice paste shell. That is the meaning of 'resist dyeing', where the rice paste resists the dye and that area remains white or undyed.
As I stated before, this fabric has areas where nori must have inadvertantly spread and slightly resisted the indigo dye. I imagine it was hard to do the process perfectly, without having that nori everywhere, or without the fabric folding up and the nori going where it’s not supposed to. Little clues like that illuminate the creation process for those who have the eyes. I also see the end has an area that is not dyed, which looks, again, connected to the process. Perhaps it was clipped in that area to make it easy to hang after dyeing, or maybe to dip into the dye and retrieve? It is there for a reason, no doubt. See the third photo.
Some of the antique japanese katazome fabrics have been resist pasted on both sides, and some have just been pasted on just one side. This is a fabric that was pasted on both sides. The backside also shows the design, although there are sloppier areas where some stray rice paste must have made it’s way onto the fabric. We see whitish shadows in the pattern on the back side, like it was difficult to perfectly control applying the sticky nori and they spread some around inadvertently. You can also see places on the textile where the stencil was not matched up on both sides perfectly. See the fourth photo. I like to see these small signs that show the handiwork done to create these pieces, that show they are from a time before machine processes were ubiquitous.
The fabric is in great condition. No holes at all. Only the slighty faded areas i mentioned before.
There are a ton of things you could do with this fabric. Display it!!! Hang it on a wall or across a table. Make a scarf! You could even use it unfinished, as is, depending on your fashion sense. I would. : ) Or you could add a few patches, make it more boro looking with fabrics and stitches, sashiko and other embellishments.
You could also, of course, chop it into bits for use in smaller projects of all sorts. Collage, scrapbooking, little sewing projects galore!! Or it could be a part of your rainy day fabric stash. Or a gift for a friend?? and on.....I am sure you have even better ideas.
This has been washed and can be washed again, in hot water and detergent.
dimensions
167 cms long x 34 cms wide
66 inches x 13.5 inches
81 grams
Share this listing and my shop all over the place, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, the local corkboard, tell the cat.
This is an indigo-dyed katazome cotton fabric panel from the late Meiji era, perhaps Taisho….or early Showa.. Homespun, hand made fabric. Katazome is a stencil dyeing process. This is probably one panel from a futon cover made of multiple panels.
This is an old hand-woven, hand-dyed, japanese mingei textile treasure!! It is incredible, the time, energy and experience that went into creating this homespun work of art. It has a deep navy hue, and the white of the base fabric is slightly dulled with age, which is the perfect patina. Botyh sides area deep blue, so it is hard to tell which side is front and which back. There are some areas that have what looks to be like smears of nori in areas which have resisted the indigo. See the photos.
This is a relatively medium weight cotton futon cover fabric. When i look closely at the fibers of the weave using a jewelers loop, I can see that they are relatively fuzzy and uneven, of varying widths. This is telltale of handspun fibers and homespun textiies. The selvedges are somewhat uneven. Lots of hand woven flavor.
Katazome is a stencil resist dye process. That means a stencil is used to apply a resist paste, which in this case is nori, a thick paste made from boiled rice. After the resist dries, it becomes basically impenetrable, and the fabric is dyed, most often with indigo. (The benefit of dyeing with indigo over other dyes is that it does not require heating up the liquid, which might start to melt away the resist paste, which becomes soft again with hot water.) The areas where the dried nori is applied 'resist' the indigo dye, which means they remain white and not dyed under that dry rice paste shell. That is the meaning of 'resist dyeing', where the rice paste resists the dye and that area remains white or undyed.
As I stated before, this fabric has areas where nori must have inadvertantly spread and slightly resisted the indigo dye. I imagine it was hard to do the process perfectly, without having that nori everywhere, or without the fabric folding up and the nori going where it’s not supposed to. Little clues like that illuminate the creation process for those who have the eyes. I also see the end has an area that is not dyed, which looks, again, connected to the process. Perhaps it was clipped in that area to make it easy to hang after dyeing, or maybe to dip into the dye and retrieve? It is there for a reason, no doubt. See the third photo.
Some of the antique japanese katazome fabrics have been resist pasted on both sides, and some have just been pasted on just one side. This is a fabric that was pasted on both sides. The backside also shows the design, although there are sloppier areas where some stray rice paste must have made it’s way onto the fabric. We see whitish shadows in the pattern on the back side, like it was difficult to perfectly control applying the sticky nori and they spread some around inadvertently. You can also see places on the textile where the stencil was not matched up on both sides perfectly. See the fourth photo. I like to see these small signs that show the handiwork done to create these pieces, that show they are from a time before machine processes were ubiquitous.
The fabric is in great condition. No holes at all. Only the slighty faded areas i mentioned before.
There are a ton of things you could do with this fabric. Display it!!! Hang it on a wall or across a table. Make a scarf! You could even use it unfinished, as is, depending on your fashion sense. I would. : ) Or you could add a few patches, make it more boro looking with fabrics and stitches, sashiko and other embellishments.
You could also, of course, chop it into bits for use in smaller projects of all sorts. Collage, scrapbooking, little sewing projects galore!! Or it could be a part of your rainy day fabric stash. Or a gift for a friend?? and on.....I am sure you have even better ideas.
This has been washed and can be washed again, in hot water and detergent.
dimensions
167 cms long x 34 cms wide
66 inches x 13.5 inches
81 grams
Share this listing and my shop all over the place, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, the local corkboard, tell the cat.