[1] Similar unrelated dyeing and weaving techniques that developed independently are also present in other regions of the world, including India, Central Asia, Japan (where it is called kasuri), Africa, and the Americas.

The blurriness is a result of the extreme difficulty the weaver has lining up the dyed yarns so that the pattern comes out perfectly in the finished cloth.

[3] It has a direct etymological relation to cognates in various Indonesian languages from Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Bali, Sulawesi, Sumba, Flores and Timor.

It was spread outwards along with the Austronesian expansion to maritime Southeast Asia, reaching as far as Madagascar by the 1st millennium BC.

[1][6] Previously, ikat traditions were suggested by some authors to be originally acquired by Austronesians from contact with the Dong Son culture of Vietnam, but this was deemed unlikely in a 2012 study.

Warp ikat is, amongst others, produced in Indonesia; more specifically in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Sumatra by respectively the Dayaks, Torajans and Bataks.

India, Japan, Indonesia and many other Southeast Asian nations including Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines and Thailand have weaving cultures with long histories of ikat resist dyeing.

In Indonesia, ikat textiles are produced throughout the islands from Sumatra in the west to Timor in the east and Kalimantan and Sulawesi in the north.

As the binding process is very labor-intensive an effort is made to reduce the work to a minimum by folding the thread bundles like in paper dolls and binding a basic ikat motif (BIM) that will be repeated like in paper dolls when the threads are unfolded for weaving after the dyeing is completed.

(However, in making batik, the crafts person applies the resist to the finished cloth rather than to the yarns to be woven.)

The warp yarns are then wrapped tightly with thread or some other dye-resistant material with the desired pattern so as to prevent unwanted dye penetration.

After the dyeing is finished the bindings are removed and the threads are wound onto the loom as the warp (longitudinal yarns).

Some warp ikat traditions are designed with vertical-axis symmetry or have a "mirror-image" running along their long centre line.

That is, whatever pattern or design is woven on the right is duplicated on the left in reverse order about a central warp thread group.

The movement of the weft yarns in the weaving process means precisely delineated patterns are more difficult to achieve.

Japanese weavers produce very accurate indigo and white weft ikat with small scale motifs in cotton.

In Thailand, weavers make silk sarongs depicting birds and complex geometrical designs in seven-colour weft ikat.

In some precise weft ikat traditions (Gujarat, India), two artisans weave the cloth: one passes the shuttle and the other adjusts the way the yarn lies in the shed.

[14] Some sources use the term double ikat only when the warp and weft patterning overlap to form common, identical motifs.

The amount of labour and skill required also make it the most expensive, and many poor quality cloths flood the tourist markets.

[12] Pochampally Saree, a variety from the small village of Andhra Pradesh in Nalgonda district, India, are silk saris woven in the double ikat.

[citation needed] The Ōshima process is duplicated in Java and Bali, and was reserved for ruling royalty, notably Klungkung and Ubud: most especially the dodot cloth semi-cummerbund of Javanese court attire.

When the King of Thailand came to the USA in 1856, he brought fine Cambodian ikat cloth as a gift for President Franklin Pierce.

[21] The most intricately patterned of the Cambodian fabrics are the sampot hol — skirts worn by the women — and the pidans — wall hangings used to decorate the pagoda or the home for special ceremonies.

Unfortunately, Cambodian culture suffered massive disruption and destruction during the mid-20th century Indochina wars but most especially during the Khmer Rouge regime.

In 1995, he moved from Japan and located one or two elderly weavers and Khmer Rouge survivors who knew the art and have taught it to a new generation.

This type of cloth is the favourite silk item woven by Khmer people living in southern Isan, mainly in Surin, Sisaket and Buriram provinces.

Latin American ikat (Jaspe, as it is known to Maya weavers) textiles are commonly woven on a back-strap loom.

Pre-dyed warp threads are a common item in traditional markets- saving the weaver much mess, expense, time and labour.

In some parts of India, ikat processed cloth such as saree and kurtis are very popular, along with bedsheets, door screens, and towels.