I picked up this largish cloth at the thrift store. It measure about 20" wide by 80" long, and appears to be a loom controlled inlay pattern. What is interesting about it is that while the pattern repeats, the colours don't.
The silk inlay (discontinous supplementary weft)threads are primarily white, but also include a dark blue, light blue and light brown. The red background appears to be fine handwoven cotton. When I first saw it I thought it might be Greek, but after looking through all my books on middle Eastern textiles I am more confused than ever. I can see similarities to Kazak, Caucasus and even Moroccan textiles. But I could be completely out in left field, and the piece might be from Scandinavia.
Might any of my learned readers be able to identity the origin of this mysterious cloth?
7 comments:
Isn;t that interesting, I thought Scandinavian myself, looks like the embellishments on Sami clothing or Norwegian in general, but then again, you're right it has even a bit of an Eastern European feel, too. I'm curious what you find out. What about going to the textile blog for reference?
What a great find from Thrift store! It would be great as throw lug - Enjoy Nat
It is beautiful,it makes me think of Eastern Europe too. I will investigate a bit.
Ooh, I think it might be from Laos! See this link:
http://www.craftrevival.org/Craftpics.asp?CountryCode=LAOS&CraftCode=003648
The Craft Revival site looks fascinating.
the measurements are interesting, could it have been woven on a backstrap loom? in which case Laos is a good possibility. Hope you find out and let us know.
Heather, thanks for the link to craftrevival site it looks great, need more time.
Came back to see if you'd figured it out. Fascinating, it does look like it comes from Laos... never would have guessed. Great site!
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