Decorating Guides
Textile Textbook: Fall in Love With These Prints From Around the World
The appeal of these hip weaves, with centuries of tradition, goes beyond mere trends
Long a staple of bohemian-style decorating, traditional global prints have surged in popularity among those looking to breathe a fresh perspective into their rooms. Whether you want earthy African Kuba cloth to texturize a neutral scheme, a bold suzani print to add levity to a formal bedroom or a trendy ikat pattern for your bathroom tiles, there is a worldly textile for every project.
These blue fabrics work especially well in the coastal style, whose signature palette of lobster red, crisp white and navy can easily become tired and repetitive without the addition of an unexpected element like batik.
While typically neutral and black in color, Kuba cloth occasionally has a dash of red. The presence of red hints at the cloth’s pedigree: The Kuba people believed that the red dye extracted from the Baphia pubescens plant held magical, protective powers. Cloths that feature this color were surely ceremonial in nature.
If you browse around Houzz, you’ll see a lot of these handmade cloths framed on walls instead of in active use around the home. While a seamstress could sew one onto a pillow face, those that are woven the traditional way with grasses and raffia leaves are understandably delicate, and many proud owners find that they deserve to be treated like special museum pieces more than everyday functional textiles.
Suzani
Suzani developed along the Silk Road in Central Asia for use in a bride’s dowry. When a baby girl was born, an elder of the village drew a stylized botanical motif on cotton or silk panels. The panels were stitched by female members of the newborn’s family using silk thread, then joined together as a quilt that stayed with the girl as part of her dowry. Today, suzani designs are more commonly screen-printed on cotton, and the intricate stitched varieties command hundreds of dollars per yard where available.
Suzani developed along the Silk Road in Central Asia for use in a bride’s dowry. When a baby girl was born, an elder of the village drew a stylized botanical motif on cotton or silk panels. The panels were stitched by female members of the newborn’s family using silk thread, then joined together as a quilt that stayed with the girl as part of her dowry. Today, suzani designs are more commonly screen-printed on cotton, and the intricate stitched varieties command hundreds of dollars per yard where available.
In modern homes, suzani prints can make a formal space more casual, and they pair well with intricately carved antiques like the bed pictured here.
Ikat
Several years into its reign as a major design trend, ikat is a word we associate more with its signature feathery pattern than any specific fiber content. Historically, ikats have been cotton-based fabrics woven with tie-dyed yarns to create this instantly recognizable motif.
Several years into its reign as a major design trend, ikat is a word we associate more with its signature feathery pattern than any specific fiber content. Historically, ikats have been cotton-based fabrics woven with tie-dyed yarns to create this instantly recognizable motif.
Flame Stitch
Flame stitch (and its relation bargello) describes the zigzagged needlepoint stitches shown on these chairs. Although flame stitch is thought to have originated centuries ago as a Hungarian needlepoint design, anyone around during the 1970s and ’80s knows this hypnotic pattern, which was all the rage during that era too.
Flame stitch (and its relation bargello) describes the zigzagged needlepoint stitches shown on these chairs. Although flame stitch is thought to have originated centuries ago as a Hungarian needlepoint design, anyone around during the 1970s and ’80s knows this hypnotic pattern, which was all the rage during that era too.
Bargello
Today, the more pointed motifs are often referred to as flame stitch, while the more curved ones are considered bargello. These are named for a museum in Florence, Italy, that houses chairs done in this pattern.
Today, the more pointed motifs are often referred to as flame stitch, while the more curved ones are considered bargello. These are named for a museum in Florence, Italy, that houses chairs done in this pattern.
Dare I suggest that flame stitch may be making a comeback? It has even inspired non-textile materials like these popular Loom mosaic tiles from New Ravenna.
Crewel
Crewel is a hand-embroidery technique associated with the Kashmir region of India. It’s used to this day in drapery, pillow and bedding fabrics. Generally speaking, fine, loosely twisted double-ply wool yarns are chain-stitched onto cotton called dsuiti. No culture has a monopoly on embroidery, though, and each seems to have its own style: Indeed, there exists a 17th-century English version, which features wool yarns on unbleached linen.
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Crewel is a hand-embroidery technique associated with the Kashmir region of India. It’s used to this day in drapery, pillow and bedding fabrics. Generally speaking, fine, loosely twisted double-ply wool yarns are chain-stitched onto cotton called dsuiti. No culture has a monopoly on embroidery, though, and each seems to have its own style: Indeed, there exists a 17th-century English version, which features wool yarns on unbleached linen.
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You’ve seen this tie-dyed favorite layered tapestrylike on artsy teenagers’ walls and bed canopies. But have you seen it upholstered onto an antique wing chair?
Originally hand-dyed with the inky blue of the indigo plant, batik came into prominence in Indonesia. Like many heritage motifs, it has been made more widely available (and affordable) through screen printing.