Learn · Glossary
Dye term
Jaspe rebozo
Jaspe is the name used for ikat in Mexican rebozo weaving: a resist-dye technique, also called reserve dyeing, in which bundles of thread are tied tightly and dyed before the cloth is woven. The tied places stay undyed. When the threads go onto the loom, the pattern appears. A jaspe rebozo is a rebozo patterned this way.
What is a jaspe rebozo?
A jaspe rebozo is a rebozo whose pattern was dyed into the threads before weaving. The Textile Museum at George Washington University describes the jaspe (ikat) rebozo as one where “threads are bound and dyed before the cloth is woven,” and calls those rebozos the most famous kind. Wikipedia’s rebozo article says the same thing in plainer terms: the dyeing is done before weaving, and ikat is the most common technique.
So jaspe is about dye, not about the loom and not about the fringe. The loom has its own pages, pedal-loom rebozo and telar de pedal. The finger-finished fringe is rapacejo. For the garment itself, start with the shop’s page on what a rebozo is.
How jaspe dyeing works
- Prepare the warp. The long threads are gathered into bundles. In a rebozo the warp is cut to the length of the finished cloth, and the number of threads sets the width.
- Tie. Groups of threads are bound tightly at planned intervals so the dye cannot reach those places.
- Dye. The bundles go into the dye. For more colors, the ties can be changed and the threads dyed again.
- Untie. After dyeing, the ties are cut off. The undyed spots are now part of the pattern.
- Weave. The threads are laid on the loom in order, so the dyed sections line up into the design. Wikipedia notes rebozos are woven on both backstrap looms and European-style looms.
- Finish. The last rows are finished by hand into the fringe, the rapacejo.
Because dyed threads are hard to line up perfectly, motifs often have soft, slightly feathered edges along the direction of the dyed threads. Wikipedia notes that collectors often prize that blur.
Jaspe, ikat, amarrado, reserve dye: the names
| Word | What it names |
|---|---|
| Ikat | From a Malay word meaning to tie or bind. Now the general English word for any cloth patterned by tying and dyeing yarn before weaving. |
| Jaspe | The Spanish name for ikat in Latin America, including Mexican rebozos and Maya weaving. |
| Amarrado | Another name Wikipedia’s rebozo article gives for the ikat method in rebozo making. |
| Jaspeado | Spanish dictionary word: veined or speckled like jasper (jaspe is the stone). |
| Resist or reserve dye | The family of techniques that keep dye away from some areas. Ikat is the member where the resist goes on the yarn, before weaving. |
| Tie-dye, batik | Resist methods applied to cloth that is already woven. Not jaspe. |
How to recognize jaspe in a rebozo
Look at both faces. In ikat the pattern is in the yarn, so both sides of the cloth carry it. Then look at the edges of a motif: a soft blur that follows the threads points to dyeing before weaving. A pattern printed onto finished cloth is a different technique.
Ikat can sit in the warp (the long threads), in the weft (the cross threads), or in both, which is called double ikat. Wikipedia names the classic de bolitas rebozo style after the little knots of string tied onto groups of threads in its making.
Jaspe tells you how a cloth was patterned. It does not tell you whether the cloth is a rebozo or what fiber it is. That test — woven to length, fringe that belongs to the cloth, a named fiber — lives on cotton vs acrylic.
Does Lola My Love sell jaspe rebozos?
Lola My Love sells cotton rebozos woven on a foot-pedal loom in Mexico, in four lengths. This page does not say any one of them is jaspe. I will not call a cloth jaspe unless its listing names the technique. Then browse our rebozo collection and read each listing.
Sources
- Steps, the name amarrado, both loom types, the de bolitas knots, and ikat dominance in traditional rebozos: Wikipedia, “Rebozo” (Production and Description sections)
- Ikat meaning “to bind,” resist on the yarn versus tie-dye and batik on cloth, both faces patterned, blur, warp, weft and double ikat, and jaspe as the Latin American name: Wikipedia, “Ikat”
- “Threads are bound and dyed before the cloth is woven”: The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, “Ikat Traditions: The Mexican Jaspe Rebozo” (program, July 20, 2024)
- Book on making a resist-dyed rebozo on a backstrap loom: Hillary Steel with Virginia Davis, Ikat Traditions: The Mexican Jaspe Rebozo (2024), listed by Weave a Real Peace
- “Ikat, jaspe, adras, kasuri” as names for the same technique, and the ragged edges: Kent State University Museum, “Resist: A World of Resist Dye Techniques”
- Reserve dyeing as a name for resist dyeing, with ikat as a physical reserve technique on yarn: Gülcan Batur Ercivan, “The Transition Process of Modern Textile Designs and Applications from the Reserved Dyed Textiles”, Yedi 17 (2017), English abstract
- Spanish meanings: Real Academia Española, “jaspe” and “jaspeado”
Questions
Is jaspe the same as ikat?
Yes. Jaspe is the name used for ikat in Mexican rebozo weaving and by Maya weavers: threads are tied and dyed before weaving, so the pattern is in the yarn. Ikat is the general English word, from a Malay word meaning to bind.
Is a jaspe rebozo the same as a tie-dyed rebozo?
No. Tie-dye ties and dyes cloth that is already woven. Jaspe ties and dyes the threads first and weaves them afterward, so the pattern runs through both faces of the cloth.
Does a jaspe pattern make a cloth a rebozo?
No single pattern makes a cloth a rebozo. The test is a rectangle woven to length, with fringe that belongs to the cloth, in a named fiber. Jaspe is one way to pattern that rectangle. The fiber test lives on cotton vs acrylic.
What does jaspe mean in Spanish?
In the Real Academia Española dictionary, jaspe is jasper, a fine-grained stone in varied colors, and jaspeado means veined or speckled like jasper.
Also: pedal-loom rebozo · telar de pedal · rapacejo · rebozo history and uses · rebozo meaning (shop)