Ikat
Cloth whose pattern is dyed into the threads before weaving, giving designs with a blurred edge.
Also: patola, bandha, kasuri
In ikat the threads, not the finished cloth, are resist-dyed. Bundles of yarn are tightly bound at measured points, dyed, unbound and then woven so that the coloured sections line up into a pattern. The threads never align perfectly, which gives the design its soft, feathered outline. The word is from the Malay and Indonesian for to tie. Ikat is woven in Indonesia, India, Central Asia, Japan and Latin America. In the double ikat of Patan in Gujarat, both lengthwise and crosswise threads are dyed to match.