Ikat and Suzani rugs are unique because unlike other rug categories in this glossary, they are based on patterns taken from 19th century Central Asian silk textiles – dyed ikats and embroidered suzanis. Ikat fabric was made in 19th century Central Asian oasis towns in present-day Uzbekistan and Tajikstan including famed Silk Road staging post Samarkand. Ikats are warp-faced plain or satin weave (see Flat Weave) silk or half silk. Made in workshops rather than homes, ikat describes a weaving technique used in many areas of the world where areas of warp – the fabric's vertical yarns – are tightly bound so they resist the penetration of dye as unbound areas of the fabric soak up the dye. The binding is done in different formations and the dye sequence repeated to create patterns. Called "cloud binding", each dyed area displays slightly blurred edges caused by minute shifts of the yarns during the dye process. Rather than a flaw, blurring is a distinct and beloved feature of Ikats. Bold color choices and juxtapositions plus spare designs with balanced negative positive space give the textiles a modern abstract look. Non-figurative ikat patterns are augmented by designs that include birds, plants and flowers. Ikat was fashioned into robes, dresses, coats, trousers, bed covers, and wall hangings. Its popularity was so great that a 19th traveller remarked on the vogue for men to wear more than one ikat coat at a time. Suzani (from the Persian word for "needle") are 19th century hand embroidered textiles from Uzbekistan. Created as bed covers. wall hangings, and frames for door openings, the intricate chain stitch designs were made in strips by female members of an extended family and subsequently stitched together. Although traced patterns can often be glimpsed beneath the embroidery, their handmade nature means that strips often did not pattern match exactly which, like Ikat blurring, is a beloved feature not a flaw. Flower heads, vines and sometimes fruits (pomegranates are popular) are the main motifs often punctuated with very small cartoon-like birds. Suzani styles range from the floral Bukhara embroideries made in the east to those from Kokand in the Fergana valley in the west which include large red discs motifs. In the 21th century, ikat and suzani patterns have effortlessly made the leap to handmade rugs and constitute two of the most popular styles today.