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The cloth was woven by an [Igbo] woman in Akwete, Nigeria, using a women’s vertical loom with a continuous warp [this design is known as ikaki bite, tortoise cloth, and is mainly ordered by coastal Ijo-speaking people from whom it gets its name, the motif is based on the oni, crocodile, pattern on Ijebu-Ode aso olona traded textiles and this may have been due to Akwete weavers conforming to the tastes of their main customers]. It consists largely of cotton, the most commonly used material in Akwete weavings, and is decorated with rayon supplementary weft patterning, which is a distinguishing feature of [Igbo] Akwete weaving. While all cotton used in Akwete weaving was once hand spun and hand dyed by women, today imported dyed yarns are more common, as reflected in this cloth. Cloths like this were mainly worn by [Igbo] women as wrappers.
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