Sunday, May 21, 2017

Tajik fabric: atlas and adras

I've always loved fabric design (thanks, Mom, for inspiring tie dye, batik, and more!). Here in Tajikistan, one can't help notice the great fabrics women wear:


In the U.S. we may know the fabric as "ikat" (which is an Indonesian term). Here in Tajikistan, it's called "atlas" if it's made of silk and "adras" if there's cotton in the weave.


Traditionally, it's handwoven on a narrow loom, as I got to see in this demonstration at a craft fair at the Ismaili Center in Dushanbe this weekend:

That makes it relatively expensive, so many people wear atlas print fabrics:

I got some adras at the craft fair I mentioned:
Now the decision is what to have made with it. What looks good on a tall, slender, Tajik woman might not on me! :-)

P.S. in case you're interested in Central Asian designers working with this type of fabric see:
https://www.bibihanum.com/
https://www.salomat-ikat.com/


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