{"id":71258,"date":"2021-06-29T14:11:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T14:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.designpoolpatterns.com\/what-is-an-ombre-how-do-you-make-one\/"},"modified":"2023-09-25T17:55:27","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T17:55:27","slug":"what-is-an-ombre-how-do-you-make-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.designpoolpatterns.com\/what-is-an-ombre-how-do-you-make-one\/","title":{"rendered":"What is an Ombr\u00e9 & How Do You Make One?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
An ombr\u00e9 is a stripe or pattern with gradual shading and blending from one color to another. In fact, the word ombr\u00e9 itself comes from the French word meaning shaded. A designer or artist can create an ombr\u00e9 using most textile techniques, including knitting, weaving, printing<\/a>, and dyeing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ombr\u00e9s first appeared in pattern designs in prints in the early 1800s on wallpaper made by the wallpaper firm Zuber. These designs often used the ombr\u00e9 in a solid area of a large design, such as the ground of a floral pattern. Other times, the ombr\u00e9 stood alone as a stripe. Its popularity was short-lived. By the mid-19th century, the effect fell out of fashion. Though beautiful, they were too costly to produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond printing, a designer can create an ombr\u00e9 structurally when constructing a piece of cloth through knitting or weaving. According to Jack Lenor Larsen<\/a> in his quintessential book Elements of Weaving<\/a><\/em> written with Azalea Stuart Thorpe, \u201cOmbr\u00e9 stripes result from gradation of color in which the change from one color to another is blended by a slow transition.\u201d A weaver makes this slow transition using individual threads either in the warp layout or the weft layout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In handweaving, an ombr\u00e9 layout in the warp is often preferable. Winding a warp with a complicated striping pattern adds a lot of time to the already slow process, but once on the loom, the weaving goes quickly. On the other hand, adding the gradually shading stripes in the weft will slow down the weaving because the weaver needs multiple shuttles full of yarn and needs to follow a pattern closely. Regardless of the technique, handweaving an ombr\u00e9 always adds time and labor. Depending on the weaver, this could be engaging or tedious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On industrial looms, a designer creates an ombr\u00e9 similarly, although it will likely be of the weft variety. Designers create the stripe sequence, known industrially as the box motion, and power looms weave these sequences. Creating an ombr\u00e9 layout in the warp direction would be cost-prohibitive for most mills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In knitting, this effect is created by gradually changing color from one to another. The knitter will plan a stripe pattern and work this pattern row by row, or round by round. The same is true in an industrial setting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dyers create this effect through different techniques such as dip dyeing, graduated dyeing, or color bleeding. When dip-dyeing<\/a>, a dyer dips a length of fabric or a garment into a dye bath. For example, they will dip 3\u201d into the dye bath and then 20 minutes later, lower in another 3\u201d for as many shades as desired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Color bleeding creates a similar effect by letting the dye wick through a fabric. In this instance, a dyer will put an edge of a piece of fabric into a dye bath and leave it there for an extended period of time, letting the dye naturally move up the cloth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever technique a maker or designer chooses to use to make an ombr\u00e9, the result is always beautiful, with a soft, colorful vibrancy. These patterns add a subtle stripe<\/a> to a collection or environment and are always on-trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWeaving creates beautiful ombr\u00e9s.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Knitters also love an ombr\u00e9.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Dyeing also produces beautiful ombr\u00e9s.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n