A Very Handsome Zanshi Length: Leftover Yarns in Indigo Cotton

early twentieth century
46" x 13", 117 cm x 33 cm

Zanshi is cloth that is woven from threads either leftover from home production of yarn making, or from broken threads that were purchased from local commercial weavers.  Usually the weft is fed with these random threads while generally the warp is regulated producing an irregular horizontal 'striping'; if home threads are used, knotted slubs can often be seen.

This short length is very handsome as it shows a definite variety of weft-based irregularly staggered "patterns" which travel up the length of the cloth, a result of the weft being fed with leftover yarns.

Notable, too, is the nice range of sapphire tones of indigo that are shown on this piece.

A really lovely length of zanshi cotton cloth.