A Very Good Length of Indigo Dyed Zanshi: Leftover Cotton Yarns

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

Zanshi is cloth that is woven from threads either leftover from home production of yarn making or from broken threads that were purchased from local commercial weavers.  Usually the weft is fed with these random threads while generally the warp is regulated producing an irregular horizontal 'striping'; if home threads are used, knotted slubs can often be seen.

This is a particularly good and handsome length of hand woven indigo dyed zanshi cloth.  

It is particularly good because the weft yarns are tightly variegated and are dyed indigo, the result being an intense variation of tightly compact tones of blue that travel up the length of this cloth.  

The fixed, striped warp yarns serve as a foil to the randomly fed weft, which creates a beautiful combination of regulated and haphazard elements in one piece of cloth.

Two patches are hand stitched to the piece.

A very good length of zanshi cloth.  Recommended.