Warp Prints-Real & Fake

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The print I called "The Schooner Minerva" in my Lately Arrived from London reproduction collection can be classified as an imitation warp-printed print. If this terminology is a mystery to you read on...

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We have to start with the basics.

Fabric woven on a loom has a warp and a weft. The warp yarns are the long yarns that attach to the loom. Above: the vertical warp yarns are dark, the horizontal weft yarns are light. 

With that dark and light yarn setup the pattern would be similar to the above, something we might call a chambray.

Weavers obtain pattern by varying the colors in warp and weft, giving us woven stripes and plaids.

A warp-dyed pattern is obtained by using a variegated warp yarn. Above the warp yarns blend from dark to light. Many cultures maintain a tradition of warp-dyed pattern. We use the word ikat (ee'-kaht) to describe this style, a Malaysian word. Another, kasuri in Japanese (kuh-sur'-ee).

 Here's a blog post from a weaver on the topic
http://einesaite.blogspot.com/2011/11/beginning-ikat.html

If the weaver uses variegated yarns in both warp and weft the pattern possibilities increase. This warp and weft dyed pattern can be called a double ikat. Knowing how the warp and weft yarns should be colored is a real skill.  

Yarn-dyed weaving patterns have a characteristic fuzzy edge. Above a geometric with the typical indefinite outline.

An Asian robe

The pattern possibilities vary with the collaborative skills of the weaver and the yarn dyer.

French weavers developed different looks

with expensive silks for luxury goods.

Here an antique overall floral, apparently warp dyed.

Florence Pettit in her 1970 book America's Printed and Painted Fabrics used the French word chiné (sheen-ay???) or flammé  (flahm-ay) for these French silks with woven pattern.

Late-18th-century Europeans inventing technology appreciated the traditional look but not the traditional skill so found faster, cheaper ways to get the effect

by printing imitations with blocks and rollers.

Above a late-19th century floral.  

These European fabrics have the characteristic diffused edges which makes them look out-of-focus from a distance. Many of these complex prints are both warp-dyed and weft-dyed. Sometimes the imitations are so good one has to flip the fabric over to see if it is printed or woven. If it's woven it will have the pattern on the reverse.

But if it's printed, like this reproduction, the back shows no evidence of variegated yarns. This could be called a warp-printed fabric, or an imitation ikat, I guess.

The document print from the early 19th century for this reproduction also has a fancy machine ground (sort of fingerprint whorls) a look not obtainable with weaving. Like many early roller prints, it's a layered extravaganza of new technology.

The fact that the style is imitation ikat or imitation warp dyed pattern really doesn't offer any clue to date. It's just interesting to think about the complexities of pattern on cloth.