Uzbekistan has long been noted for its wealth of unique and decorative applied arts. Its position along the Silk Road led to the development of silk and cotton prodoction in  the region centuries ago, resulting in a long and rich history of intricate embroidery and colorful textiles. Embroidered clothing, caps, prayer carpets and wall hangings, which today are revered by many as works of art, have played a central and functional role in the daily life of the Uzbek people for hundreds years.

The Textiles of Uzbekistan

In Central Asia, decorative weaving and textiles have exisited since the 4th-5th centuries ВС. Uzbekistan is particularly noted for its ikat fabric. Ikat is a word of Indonesian origin, which refers to fabric that is patterned by binding the warp threads to resist dye before weaving.

Many ancient legends surround the production of ikat in Central Asia. One legend states that in days of old one of the famous regional khans had a very beautiful daughter. The local weaver fell in love with the khan's daughter but was told the daughter was betrothed to someone else. The weaver was so upset and beseeched the khan to change his mind about him marrying the khan's daughter. The khan told the weaver that if he could come-up with a special cloth to match those imported from China and India, the khan would reconsider giving the weaver his daughter's hand in marriage. The weaver was upset at the khan's teasing and spent the night by the side of a small lake crying. While spending the night in the open and on the shore of the lake the weaver couldn't help but notice how the full moon on the calm waters created a blurred reflection of the trees, fruit and other items along the shore. While sitting there watching the changing shapes reflect themselves off of the water, the weaver saw the design of a special cloth he could create from the reflections. The next day the weaver worked all day dyeing and weaving until he created a representation of the reflections seen in the water. The cloth was presented to the khan, who liked it so much that he allowed his beautiful daughter to marry the weaver

 Another legend states that once an artist sat by a fast running stream. The stream reflected the clouds, and changed their form. Suddenly sunrays were fractured and became a rainbow which was reflected in the stream. The artist saw a picture of clouds playing with colors. He painted that picture and showed it to weavers who then transferred his picture to fabrics. Later the word abr (which means cloud) was used as the name of the process of dyeing base threads in traditional fabrics, so fabrics were named abr-fabrics.

Initially silk threads were quite expensive as they had to be carried from China into Central Asia where they were woven; therefore, ikats were only available to the wealthy. By the 5th and 6th centuries, the practice of breeding silkworms spread to Central Asia from China, making ikat cheaper and accessible to a larger number of people.

While only men wove silk and passed their skills on to their sons, the preparation of thread was a woman's task. Cotton and wool were combed through many times until a skein of yarn was formed, after this the yarn was spun on a spindle. The yarn or thread was then dyed and woven on a loom.

Cotton, wool, and silk were the main raw materials used for producing textiles. The threads were combined when weaving the fabrics, producing half-wool or half-silk fabrics in addition to pure cottons, wools, and silks. Handmade fabrics were used for such items as clothing, blankets and quilts, curtains, ceremonial pieces for weddings, covers for household goods, and summer tents. During wedding ceremonies, funer­als, and holidays, people often gave pieces of fabric to the poor, to each other, to guests, to winners of competitions, or to add to a girl's dowry. Fabrics were used as barter goods, and were sometimes even traded for slaves.

By the middle of the 19th century, the production of decorative ikat was one of the most developed businesses in Uzbekistan. Ikat production was concentrated in several cities of including Bukhara, Margilan, Namangan, Samarkand Andijan, Kokand, Karshi, Kitab, and Shakrisabz. However, by the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, ikat production began to decline due to competition with imported factory-made fabric. This decline was reflected in hand-woven ikat, which began to be produced using facto­ry-prepared raw materials and chemical dyes. The patterns were also simplified to just two or three colors.

The tradition of hand-weaving continues to be preserved today primarily in the small towns and villages of the Fergana Valley, including Margilan, Namangan, and Kokand. The technology of ikat manufacturing is quite complicated and includes 37 steps. The steps may be summarized as follows:

Prepared silk threads for the warp of the fabric are distributed into small skeins of 40-50 threads each, which are wound around square beams on a loom. The space between the beams is 1.4 - 2.25 meters which is why after a certain interval in the fabric a horizontal white stripe can be seen.

An artist called an abrband then outlines a special pattern on the bundles of thread which are stretched out on the loom. According to the pattern, sections of thread are bound with thick cotton thread so that they resist dyeing. Prepared sections of thread are immersed in boiling dye for several minutes. After dyeing, the threads are straightened, and the process is repeated with a different color of dye. Sometimes natural dyes are used including pome­granate skin (anor-pusty), the Japanese sofa flower (tuhumuk), madder (ruyan), onion skin, and nuts.

At last, the loom is dressed with the dyed warp threads and the weaving process can begin. According to tradition, weavers use a polish made with egg whites which is applied to the fabric. The fabric is then ironed, and the final result is a shiny, thick appearance with an amazing play of colors.

Patterns designed by abrbands were often named after the shapes they represented. Common patterns from the 18th-19th centuries included: the comb (tarok), sickle (urok), Uzbek soup bowl (kosa-gul), dram (nogora), echo (chakirim), snake track (ilon-izi), and arches (shoty-kora).

Modern ikats also often contain representations of traditional Uzbek jewelry including drop-earrings and triangular-shaped pendants (tumor). When a young Uzbek woman got married, she was expected to wear jewelry, which represented the wealth of the from which she came. It was said that if a woman could not walk due to the heaviness of her new jewelry she came from a wealthy family. However, jewelry was expensive, and a wedding ceremony without jewelry was considered shameful, so to solve this problem, people began to buy ikats with patterns representing jewelry.