Batik

Understanding Batik Fabric: Production and Care

Curious about batik fabric and its manufacturing process? Let us provide you with an insightful explanation. Batik fabric, renowned for its beauty, is a versatile material commonly used in creating stunning batik quilts. To delve into the technical details of its production, batik quilt fabric undergoes a unique process where wax is applied to specific areas of the fabric. Once the wax solidifies, the fabric is immersed in a captivating dye, with the wax acting as a barrier, preventing the fibers from absorbing the color. After thorough immersion, the batik fabric is boiled to remove the wax, resulting in a visually appealing tie-dye effect and a crackled appearance that distinguishes batik quilt fabric. It's important to note that this is just one method of creating batik fabric prints, as there are four other techniques including hand-drawing, digital printing, metal blocks, and screen printing.

Batik quilt fabrics can be made from various types of fabrics. While most cotton weights work well with the waxing and dyeing processes, finer weaves tend to yield the best results for batik fabrics. Our collection offers batik fabric by the yard, as well as precuts such as batik layer cakes and batik jelly rolls. Additionally, we provide extra wide batik backing fabric, perfect for your exquisite batik quilts.

Maintaining and Caring for Batik Fabrics

Given the intricate process involved in creating batik fabric prints, you might wonder if they bleed when washed. The answer is yes, batik quilt fabrics may bleed. However, you can prevent any tie-dye disasters by pre-washing your batik fabrics using water and a color fixative called Retayne. Retayne helps "lock" the fabric dye, minimizing excessive bleeding. Simply soak your batiks in enough water to fully submerge them, add approximately a teaspoon of Retayne, and allow them to soak for about 20 minutes. Afterwards, rinse your batiks with cool water, dry them, and voila—your tie-dye disaster is averted!

Can batik quilts be washed? Absolutely! Remember to pre-wash your batiks, and for regular washes afterward, opt for either handwashing or a gentle cycle on your machine. As most batik fabrics are made from cotton, it is safe to iron them, preferably on a low or medium setting.

Determining the "Right" Side of Batik Fabric Prints

When working with batik fabric prints, you'll find that most of them do not have a designated right or wrong side. In our tutorials, you may have heard Jenny refer to the "right" and "wrong" sides of fabric, indicating the side where colors and designs are most vivid. However, due to the thorough dye penetration in batiks, both sides are typically equally vibrant, rendering the concept of right or wrong side irrelevant. There may be exceptions where certain batik quilt fabrics have nearly identical sides. In such cases, simply select the side that appears brightest to you and consider it the "right" side for your batik quilts.

 

Raven Kokopelli

 

Southwest Dusty Mauve Batik

 

Southwest Stone Green Batik

$13.99

Southwest Stone Green Batik

 

Amethyst - Dark purple yuccas

 

Amethyst Native

 

Bluff

 

Southwest Hunter Green Batik

 

Southwest Kelly Green Batik

 

Lime Green Batik Cotton Blender

 

Mirage Camouflage

 

Mirage Flame/Camo

 

Orange with Circles

 

Rodeo Days

 

Spectrum Coyote

 

Stone Green

 

Turquoise Batik Cotton Blenders

 

Yellowish Orange with an arcade design