On the previous post, below this one, I showed a beautiful, cotton cloth printed on its front and back.  Today I’m showing yet another cloth that is wonderful on both of its sides.

This is a length of indigo dyed katazome hemp cloth that is heavily patched on one side; the reverse shows a beautiful, two-process katazome dyed pattern.  The hemp cloth is very finely woven.This hemp boro cloth is patched with hemp fragments, with the exception of the large, plain blue patch which is silk.  The mending stitches are really beautifully done, and some of them are quite intricate.The photos below show details of the katazome dyed pattern on the reverse side of the boro cloth shown above.   The dyed plaid repeat  is really elegant and subtle, and the technique used to stencil-resist dye the cloth is complex.

Note that the resist dyed pattern runs in two directions, which means the cloth needed to be resisted and dyed twice: once in indigo for the “east/west” stripes, then using a brown dyestuff for the “north/south” stripes.  The end result is just beautiful in its color and its design.