We are running a very small ikat weave-along in the Ravelry backstrap group. I have always wanted to do true ikat…wrapping the warps, dyeing and weaving. I have tried several times over the years and had some colossal fails and a couple of so-so results.
The tying and dyeing is the easy part. Everything got out of control in the weaving on my backstrap loom. The warps shifted excessively out of alignment and the motif got completely lost. I ended up with an odd speckly mess. This means that I am never very adventurous when I come to try again. I make a very small warp and keep the design very simple and hold my breath.
But this time, I looked around online a lot and put more thought into it. I was also lucky to have been able to see some Mapuche ikat on the loom at an exhibit in DC last November. So, I did a lot of things differently this time and I am really happy with the results on my teeeny sample.
Now I feel that I could take on something bigger and a little less “square-ish”. I blogged about the process and what I did differently this time.