If you have held the Ruby Raga Collar Kurta up to the light and noticed the maroon pattern showing through from the other side, you have already seen the difference between ikat and everything that imitates it. The pattern is not printed on the cloth. It was dyed into the yarn before the cloth existed.
What is ikat?
Ikat is a resist-dyeing technique in which artisans dye the yarn first and weave the fabric afterwards. The word comes from the Malay-Indonesian mengikat, to tie or to bind, and binding is the heart of it: bundles of yarn are tied tightly at planned intervals, dipped in dye, and the tied sections resist the colour. When the yarn is untied and woven, the undyed sections line up into a pattern.
Think about what that requires for a moment. The weaver has to know, before a single thread crosses the loom, exactly where every patch of colour will fall in the finished cloth. A printed fabric forgives mistakes. Ikat does not.
How ikat is made
1. Planning the pattern. The design is mapped onto the yarn itself. Artisans calculate where each tie must sit so that the dyed and undyed sections resolve into the intended motif once woven.
2. Binding. Yarn bundles are wrapped by hand with thread or rubber at the marked points. The wrapping must be tight enough to block the dye completely.
3. Dyeing. The bound yarn goes into the dye bath. Multi-colour ikat repeats the cycle: untie some sections, retie others, dye again. Each colour is a full round of work.
4. Weaving. The dyed yarn is set on the loom and woven. When the pattern is dyed on the lengthwise threads it is warp ikat; on the crosswise threads, weft ikat. In double ikat, both warp and weft carry the dyed pattern and must meet at the correct point, thread by thread. It is one of the most demanding textile techniques in the world.
Where ikat comes from in India
Ikat exists across Asia, but India holds three great traditions. The Patola of Gujarat is double ikat in silk, woven historically for royalty and now protected as a Geographical Indication. Telangana's Pochampally ikat carries its own GI and its geometric vocabulary is the one most people picture when they hear the word. Odisha's Sambalpuri ikat, called bandha, feathers its curved motifs so finely that the pattern seems to blur into the cloth. Each tradition ties, dyes and weaves by hand to this day.
Woven ikat vs printed ikat
Ikat became fashionable enough that mills now print ikat-style patterns onto plain fabric. The print copies the look, including the soft edges. It costs a fraction as much to make, and plenty of it is sold without the word printed appearing anywhere on the label.
The difference is structural. In woven ikat the colour is in the yarn, all the way through. In a print the colour sits on the surface of a finished cloth. One is a weave; the other is a picture of a weave.
How to check in thirty seconds
Turn it over. Real ikat shows the pattern on the reverse, slightly fainter but unmistakably there, because the dyed yarn runs through the cloth. A print shows a blank or washed-out back.
Look at the edges of the motifs. Genuine ikat has feathered, slightly blurred pattern edges, the trace of yarn shifting during weaving. Printers imitate this blur, so feathering alone proves nothing, but razor-sharp edges rule real ikat out.
Feel it. Handwoven cloth has texture and body. It drapes with weight and softens with wear. Printed imitations usually sit on flat, uniform mill fabric.
Hunt for small irregularities. A motif that sits a thread off, a repeat that varies a shade between passes. Machines do not make those marks. Hands do. The same logic applies across the board, and we have set it out in detail in our guide to telling handloom from powerloom.
Why House of Falguni uses ikat
Two of our pieces carry true ikat. The Ruby Raga Collar Kurta sets a deep maroon ikat weave on a contemporary collar, made for the woman who wants heritage she can wear to work. The Ikat Tote Bag, in navy, black or red, puts handwoven ikat on a work bag that fits a 13-inch laptop such as a MacBook Air; we have written about three ways to style it.
We choose woven ikat over print for the same reason we use hand block-printed Ajrakh on our stoles: the technique is the point. A pattern that took days of tying, dyeing and weaving carries something a surface print cannot, and you can see it every time light passes through the cloth.
Caring for ikat
- Hand wash cold with a mild detergent, or use a gentle machine cycle in a mesh bag.
- Wash separately the first time. Yarn-dyed colour may release a little at first, then settles.
- Dry in shade, turned inside out. Direct sun fades hand-dyed colour.
- Iron on the reverse at low heat, never directly over the weave.
- If something spills, treat it from the reverse in cold water. Our stain removal guide covers hand-dyed cloth specifically.
A history longer than most fabrics carry
Patola silk was already being woven in Gujarat by the twelfth century, traded along routes that carried it as far as Southeast Asia, where it was prized enough to be preserved as a royal heirloom fabric in Indonesia and reproduced locally in imitation. That a single length of double ikat could travel that far and hold that much value tells you something about how labour-intensive, and how genuinely rare, the true technique has always been. Ikat was never a pattern chosen for decoration alone; it carried the weight of trade, craft lineage and, in Gujarat specifically, family workshops that passed the tying and dyeing knowledge down for generations.
Why the price difference is not really about markup
A woven ikat kurta will almost always cost more than a printed imitation, and it is worth understanding why, since the gap is not primarily about brand positioning. A single skilled weaver can spend a full day tying and dyeing yarn for a metre of cloth that a printing unit could replicate visually in minutes. We think the honest way to frame it is: you are not paying more for the same pattern, you are paying for a completely different, far slower process that happens to produce a visually similar result.
Styling woven ikat day to day
Because true ikat carries texture and body from the weave itself, it tends to hold its shape through a full day of wear better than a lightweight printed fabric. A structured ikat kurta pairs well with minimal jewellery, since the woven pattern already carries visual interest; save statement earrings for a plainer, solid-colour piece. In our experience, ikat also transitions cleanly from office to evening simply by swapping flat sandals for heels, since the fabric itself already reads as considered rather than casual.
The sustainability case for handwoven ikat
Handloom weaving carries a meaningfully smaller carbon footprint than power-loom production, since it depends on human skill rather than continuous machine energy, and traditional ikat dyeing has historically used natural or low-impact dyes drawn from local plant and mineral sources. Choosing woven ikat over a printed copy is not only a craft decision but, in a real sense, a slower, lower-impact one too, precisely the kind of choice that a piece meant to be worn for years rather than one season should invite.
Building a small ikat capsule
Because true ikat is an investment, we would suggest starting with one versatile piece rather than several at once, a structured kurta in a colour that works across seasons, kept simple. Once you understand how the fabric moves and wears through a full year, a second piece, perhaps in an accessory like the ikat tote, becomes an easier, better-informed decision rather than an impulse purchase made on pattern alone.
Frequently asked questions
Is ikat fabric handmade?
True ikat is. The yarn is tied and dyed by hand and woven on a loom. Ikat-style prints are machine-made copies of the pattern on ordinary fabric.
Why does real ikat cost more than printed ikat?
A printed metre takes minutes. A woven ikat metre takes days of tying, dye baths and loom work by a skilled artisan, and the cost reflects that labour.
What is the difference between ikat and Ajrakh?
Both are resist techniques, but they resist at different stages. Ikat resists dye on the yarn before weaving. Ajrakh resists dye on finished cloth using mud paste and carved blocks. Ikat is a weave; Ajrakh is a print, though a hand-made one.
What is the difference between ikat and bandhani?
Both are resist-dyed before the pattern exists, but ikat resists on the yarn before weaving, while bandhani ties thousands of points on finished cloth. Ikat produces feathered motifs; bandhani produces dots.
How do I know if my ikat kurta is real?
Turn it inside out. If the pattern runs through to the reverse of the fabric, the colour is in the yarn and the ikat is woven. If the back is plain, it is a print.
Related reading
- Handloom vs powerloom: how to tell the difference before you buy
- What is bandhani? Gujarat's tie-dye craft, and how to spot a real one
- What is Ajrakh block printing?
See the weave in person on the Ruby Raga Collar Kurta and the Ikat Tote Bag.
More on how this craft is made in The Craft.
