How to Quilt With Batiks
Batiks are sought-after cotton fabrics that are hand-dyed in a variety of colors and designs. Each batik is slightly different as the designs are randomly placed. They have a light and silky feel to them that adds to the quality of the finished quilt. You can use batiks in your quilt making like you would any other cotton fabric, but keep in mind some of batiks' special properties.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Choose a background fabric that sets off the main color of your batik, such as a complementary color, black or plain muslin. Hand-dyed batiks have a natural variation in colors throughout the length of the fabric, and it will be all but impossible to find an exact match for any one color in the design.
-
2
Plan your quilt blocks carefully to take advantage of clever block placement on lengths of fabric. Use rotary cutting techniques to help avoid wasting any fabric. While all good quilt fabric can be relatively expensive, good batiks are even more so. Keep the costs down by using batiks as bright jewels in the quilt top instead of as more mundane background pieces.
-
-
3
Sew the quilt top together on a sewing machine or use a thinner needle if you are hand piecing. Batiks are very tightly woven. Thick needles have a hard time getting through the tight weave, and make fingers very sore after a short amount of time. Use a smaller quilting needle to hand-quilt batiks. Look for needles with a larger number, as the number goes up as the size goes down. If you generally use a number 9, try a 10 or 11 to make it easier to push through the tight weave of the fabric.
-
4
Use a regular cotton quilt fabric as the backing for your quilt. While it would no doubt be a striking visual effect, using batik for a backing would be more expensive and more difficult to quilt through.
-
1
References
- Photo Credit Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
