Handwoven Shibori Cloth

Shibori is a Japanese dyeing technique in which fabric is stitched and bound with threads or wrapped around poles before being dyed. The binding forms a resist to the dye - like tie dyed cloth. Once the cloth has been dyed and the bindings released, patterns emerge in the cloth. Often the process is done more than once to create fantastic designs.

A creative weaver called Catherine Ellis came upon the idea of weaving in the stitching threads required to gather the cloth for dyeing. She found that a weaver could shortcut the time needed to create the pulling threads necessary for the shibori design at the same time the cloth was being woven on a loom. Her book is called "Woven Shibori" and it contains many examples of patterned cloth fabricated in this way. Catherine also shares her weaving drafts and explanations on how to do the process, so that weavers are now able to experiment on their own with this very interesting technique. A fascinating podcast interview with Catherine was done by Syne Mitchell of Weavecast (see links below).

This past spring I took a class in woven shibori at the Conference of Northern California Handweavers (CNCH) with Ellen Good from Ontario, Canada. The three day class inspired me to continue using the technique in my weaving studio. I found the process easy to learn and understand . There are an unlimited number of possibilities in woven structure, patterning structure and dyeing techniques, making woven shibori a great outlet for creative expression. Examples of my woven explorations are located in the slide show attached to this lens.

It is my hope that other handweavers will take the time to learn this handweaving and dyeing technique and stretch it to new horizons. Please contact me if you know of other resources or links about the subject so that they can be added here.