Textiles: Suzani, Ikat, Kilim, Tribal, etc.


Goooooooood morning world!  How are ya?  I hope you're rested and happy!  As for me, wellllll.... I haven't slept a wink since yesterday morning!  That's right, I never went to sleep...  You see it all started around 7pm last night when I got home and suddenly remembered to check the due date on for my online math homework.  I was pretty sure that it was due tonight by midnight because it's usually due every other Tuesday, but then I saw it said "DUE IN 5 HOURS," ack!  So I turned off the TV, shut my million other browser windows, and buckled down for the inevitable torture.  And it's a good thing I did!  At first I was optimistic ("Oh, only 25 questions this time - no problem!"), then I read the first question and my brain short-circuited.  No lie.  It's official, I am hopeless and helpless when it comes to math.  And though I'll readily concede that any day, I'll also put up a fierce (and tearfully frustrated) argument/whine-fest about why math this damn complicated has no business in my brain!  I beg you college, leave this alien language to the mathematicians, scientists, engineers, architects and so on....  Leave me with my perfectly wonderful right-brained head!!  Am I right or what?

To make a long story short (or longer - because that's more my style), what I thought would take an hour, or two at the most, turned into a race to the very last minute before it was electronically due (11:59pm).  Yes, I know, miserable!  Why so long you ask?  I couldn't grasp the bajillion formulas that needed to be interchangeably used in order to solve just one problem - factorial this, factorial that, divide this, quotient that, fraction this, multiply and divide that... UGH!!!  By the time I was done my eyeballs were feeling fried and I felt like I needed a vacation far far away (then again I always feel that way want that).  I was angry at myself for not understanding, yet desperate to be done with it.  And then, when it was done and over with, I proceeded to try and relax a bit before going to sleep, only to then obsess over an open-book online quiz for my sociology class which is due today at 12 noon.  Fortunately, I realized the error of my ways in previous weeks (waiting for the last minute, ehem), and decided to take the open-book quiz sooner than a few hours before it was due.  It's a good thing I did, the professor asked some really challenging questions that required lengthy elaborations from the text ("Guns, Germs, and Steel..." by Jared Diamond).  So yeah, I just finished the quiz about 30 minutes ago and since I heard birds chirping and more cars on the road outside I figured I might as well ride this adrenaline wave into the new day with a blog post!  I'll sleep at some point before my 12:30pm class!  ;)

Thanks for listening to me vent.  Let us move on to greener pastures, shall we?  In yesterday's Bohemian Interiors post I mentioned that Joann Fabrics was having a nice President's Day sale and that I was doing some fabric shoppin'.  Well, I finally paired down my selections to a reasonable final number and made a purchase!  I was going to save images of the fabrics I bought straight from the Joann website (to share with you), but then decided those teensy images are crappy and won't do my new fabrics justice.  Instead, I'm going to wait until they arrive and photograph them myself.  I plan to use them for pillows and other crafts, as well as back-drops for photographing my Goodwill finds (for an upcoming post, a sequel to this post) and any future items that I list on my Etsy store.  I'll keep ya posted.

Anyway, it was with fabric on the brain that I put together this post.  Oh how I love fabric!  Did you know that back in 2008 I went on a business trip to Istanbul, at the time I worked as a showroom manager for a fabric distributor, to attend an enormous fabric convention called Evteks.  It was incredible.  I have more photos of my personal adventures through Istanbul than I do of that convention, though I have a few blurry (hurried) shots.  My boss at the time had us communicating via walkie-talkies because the convention consisted of more than six or so stand-alone convention halls, each seemingly bigger than the last, and he wanted us to cover as much ground as possible (talk about angry sore feet).  Imagine the one large convention center in your town multiplied by six or more, all connected by hallways, and each one packed with fabric and upholstery service companies from all over the world.  I'll have to blog more about that trip, it's something I keep saying I want to do.  So far I have only done one post from my trip to Istanbul, it's on the graffiti I saw while walking the streets (see this post). 

All this is to say that I love fabric and I've seen a lot of it.  It's overwhelming how many incredible textiles are currently being designed and produced (and ripped off of famous collections, lol).  Though, despite all of the fancy-shmancy fabrics I've oooooh'd and ahhhh'd over, there is a certain kind of fabric that owns my heart, and that is anything tribal and ethnic.  I love special woven pieces such as Uzbek Suzanis!  I love Batik, or anything with Ikat, and definitely Kilims!  Basically anything that has that bohemian global feel to it, or at least that's my definition.  For me, these types of fabrics are artistic and have abundant character, vibrancy, and life!  Simply put, they're sexy, gorgeous, and they rock my world!  Here are just a handful of images that convey the types of fabrics that I'm talking about...  Happy scrolling ;)

More posts on:
Fabric
Ikat
Suzanis
Kilims



Source: etsy.com via Clare on Pinterest

Source: thatbohemiangirl.tumblr.com via Adria on Pinterest

Source: thatbohemiangirl.tumblr.com via Gabrielle on Pinterest

Source: bokja.wordpress.com via forgottenremembrance on Pinterest

Source: thatbohemiangirl.tumblr.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Source: thatbohemiangirl.tumblr.com via wild applesauce on Pinterest

Source: thatbohemiangirl.tumblr.com via Melinda on Pinterest

Source: thatbohemiangirl.tumblr.com via Litsa on Pinterest

Source: anthropologie.com via Litsa on Pinterest

Source: theselby.com via Litsa on Pinterest

Source: anindiansummer-design.blogspot.com via Litsa on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Litsa on Pinterest

Source: mayseek.com via Litsa on Pinterest

Source: thatbohemiangirl.tumblr.com via Julia on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Adria on Pinterest

Source: us.mydeco.com via Adria on Pinterest

Source: tafalist.com via Adria on Pinterest

Source: indigenousdialogues.tumblr.com via Melinda on Pinterest

Source: kristinnicholas.com via Adria on Pinterest

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Adria on Pinterest

Source: thatbohemiangirl.tumblr.com via Adria on Pinterest

Source: anangelatmytable.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Source: zunigainteriors.blogspot.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Source: onceuponateatime.blogspot.com via Angelina on Pinterest

Source: clothkits.co.uk via Litsa on Pinterest

Source: thatbohemiangirl.tumblr.com via Heather on Pinterest

Source: jubella.com via Litsa on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Source: hiddeninfrance.typepad.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Source: thatbohemiangirl.tumblr.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Adria on Pinterest

Source: decor8blog.com via Lisa on Pinterest
(All images in this post are individually cited and sourced via Pinterest.)