A Length of Twice Dyed Hand Spun Katazome Cotton: Diagonal Piecing

late nineteenth century
63" x 12 1/4", 160 cm x 31 cm

This is a length of hand spun, hand woven cotton cloth that has been dyed in the katazome method, a resist dye technique that uses stencils to create a pattern.

The cloth shows two tones of blue which, in Japan, is referred to as "twice dyed" for that reason. 

What is intriguing about this length is not seen at first glance, and that is that the cloth is hand stitched from two, long, wedge-shaped pieces. The cloth used to make this length seems to have been taken from the collar portion of a yogi, or an oversized, kimono-shaped duvet.

The cotton cloth has a wonderful texture and it has been used rather hard in its lifetime which is obvious when looking carefully at the cloth--there is a mended hole, for example, which is shown on a detail photo here.

Still the color of the length is still rich and the blue is warm and evenly applied.

This is a lovely length of old katazome dyed cotton which shows an appealingly complex pattern.