Couldn't 'Resist' This Batik
- fabman556
- Jul 27, 2018
- 3 min read
Souvenir Fabric From Hawai'i
Regular readers will remember the above souvenir fabrics I brought back from the Hawai'i trip in February. https://fabman556.wixsite.com/dan-the-fabric-man/single-post/2018/02/21/Aloha-By-The-Yard
During a warmer-than-average week in March here in South Carolina I sewed the bark cloth print on the far left into a camp shirt almost immediately. https://fabman556.wixsite.com/dan-the-fabric-man/single-post/2018/03/01/Aloha-as-in-Shirt
This week I sewed the batik palm tree fabric, second from left above, into camp shirt, below.
What Is Batik?
According to Dharma Trading Company, "batik is a 'resist' process for making designs on fabric. The artist uses wax to prevent dye from penetrating the cloth, leaving 'blank' areas in the dyed fabric. The process, wax resist then dye, can be repeated over and over to create complex multicolored designs." In other words, wax is applied to fabric wherever you do not want the dye to reach the fabric. After the fabric is dyed and the wax is removed, more wax can be applied and the fabric dyed again, and this process can be repeated until the desired effect is achieved.
Evidence of early batik has also been found all over the Middle East, in India, China, (see below) Central Asia and Africa. By the nineteenth century, after the importation of more finely woven cloth from India and Europe, it became a highly accomplished art form in Java and Bali in Indonesia.
Batiks are most often hand-made outdoors in fabric lengths that are considerably shorter than the typical printed fabric production run, and poor weather can have an impact on production and delivery times. (In my JOANN buyer days I sometimes had to push out in-store dates on batik fabrics due to excessively rainy weather.)
Today, batik fabrics are made in many countries, but Indonesian batiks generally represent high quality. Batiks are used for everything from apparel to quilts. The example batik quilt kit below is available from Missouri Star Quilt Company.
https://www.missouriquiltco.com/shop/detail/90650/anthology-fabrics/christine-stainbrook/eclipse-kit
Where To Buy Batik Fabric
Batik fabrics are available almost anywhere fabrics are sold. Local quilt shops (LQS) are usually great resources for batik fabrics, and many LQS specialize in this type of fabric. Hoffman of California, a LQS brand of batik fabric made in Bali, is highly valued for its quality and hand feel (see one of their designs below).
Traditional fabric retailers have batik assortments available.
JOANN https://www.joann.com
Online retailers also have signifcant assortments of beautiful batik fabrics.
Hancock's of Paducah
Missouri Star Quilt Company
My palm tree batik came from Fabric Mart in Honolulu, and they have a fairly large selection at very reasonable prices. Mrs. DTFM and I each brought home one piece from their batik collection (and certainly could have selected several more if luggage space has permitted).
Tip: When shopping for batik fabrics be aware there are designs that are printed to look like batik but are not actually real batik.
Designing Your Own Batik Fabric
For those who prefer to design their own batik fabric, below is a link to instructions. (Unless there was a specific motif I couldn't locate, or I really wanted to learn the process, I wouldn't design my own batik fabric; it's time-consuming and messy.)
Whether you buy batik fabric or design your own, it's fun to sew up something special from this interesting fabric.
Until next time, keep those sewing machines humming, and try to work some batik into your stash!
@danthefabricman
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