Flannel Batik is one of the most gorgeous, soft, and tactile pleasures.  It may feel a little rough on the bolt but wash that puppy and it fluffs happily.

We have not been able to get patterned flannel batik for awhile but just received 32 bolts of gorgeous.  We offer a variety of colors, designs, and solid-y pieces.

Prewash your flannel batik to remove any remaining wax and any extra dye from the fabrics.  Remember this is Indonesian Batik made in Bali without washing machines and other benefits we take for granted.

I wash it with medium or high heat.  I finish the ends of the flannel before washing so I don’t lose much to raveling.

I am feeling a Quickest Quick Step in my future!

This pattern is ideal for flannel.  It takes just 9 fat quarters for the front and 9 for the back plus the borders and binding.

The Quick Step Quilt sews and quilts at the same time.  I enjoy giving each side a different personality in color.  It usually ends up hot one side and cool the other.

One side could be flannel and the other cotton batik!

Have fun quilting!  Carol Britt

Exclusive Dogwood Batik

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Our Quilt Shop Rally for 2012 is over but the projects and exclusive batik continue.

We still have stock on 11 of the 12 colors of our EXCLUSIVE dogwood batik made for us by Island Batik.  Reorders won’t be in until the fall so order while it lasts!  We have several kits using the dogwood batik as well as charm packs, jelly rolls, and fat quarter packs.  The packs and cuts have all 12 colors.

Our shop project is called Dogwood Days and is a wall hanging or lap quilt measuring 68″ x 50″.  It uses 11 of the 12 Dogwood Batiks and the Lazy Angle Ruler designed by Joan Hawley and made by Creative Grids.

I started with the block called Nimble in Joan’s book, Lazy and Lovin’ It page 58.  I sketched on graph paper because it makes me brave.  A fresh piece of plain white paper scares me!

The branches and twigs are raw edge applique with a decorative stitch to simulate bark around the edges.

Other projects include the Tankini Kit made by Patsy.

This is an Atkinson Designs pattern using the pastel and white Dogwood Batiks.
This is an Atkinson Designs pattern using the pastel and white Dogwood Batiks.

This runner gets its name because it is great on a dresser or the top of the tank in the well dressed bathroom!  Patsy made four other tablerunners.

We die cut the Dogwood Batik into jelly rolls and charm packs.  There are two of each of 12 dogwood batik colors and two each of 8 coordinating batiks for a total of 40 2.5″ strips or 40 5″ squares.

Robin made this 1600 quilt with the jelly roll and added two borders.  It measures 67″ x 81″.

We don’t have this in a kit exactly.  You would order one Dogwood Jelly Roll, 1-1/2 yards for the outside border, 3/4 yard for the inside border (Robin used Grape Juice), and 3/4 yd for binding.

This way you can pick your favorite Dogwood Batik for the outside border.  They all look good and change the personality of the quilt.

Joan used the Twist & Shout Tote pattern from Perkins Dry Goods and our Dogwood Charm Pack to make this cute tote.

She used the charm squares as is and did not cut them down.  Very cute.  I love charm squares – there is so much you can do with a 5″ die cut square!

Robin made this pretty shirt from the blue dogwood.  she was the cat’s meow at the shop rally.

This is a new pattern for her and she really liked it.  She made it shorter as suggested in the pattern.

Blake made this great quilt with the pattern Don’t Fence Me It.

It is a 5 yards of fun pattern and is a snap.  I love the yellow accent.

5 yards of fun are a series of patterns that use only 5 – 1 yard pieces of fabrics.

Get your exclusive Dogwood Batik soon.  Our next shipment will be in the fall.

Video How Batiks are Made

Watch this amazing video of how Moda Batiks are made.  I am so fascinated by how they “smock” the fabric to make the hills and valleys for the dye.

It is a bit scary seeing how there is OSHA in Indonesia.  But Moda has helped improve the conditions and is working with the people.  For the most part the dyes are safe.  The dye is most dangerous in the powder form and dye mixers usually use masks.
The Making of Moda Batiks

Some of favorite new Moda Batiks:

This group of batik are called Tide Pool.  Great name.  They also come in a jelly roll and charm pack.

Hand Drawn Batik Step by Step

These pictures are by Marty Britt taken during a Batik Lovers Tour from Deb Roberts’ World of Quilts Travel company.

Carol and Marty were 2 of 24 lucky people to experience a delightful 10 day tour.

The first full day of our tour we visited a Batik Factory in Tohpati.  There was a fantastic display that showed the hand drawn batik process step by step.  The proprietor was very friendly and proud of their Balinese traditions.

The design is drawn on the fabric by the batik artist.

The design is hand drawn with a tjanting (chanting) with hot wax.

The tjantings are at the right front on the picture. They come in different size openings so the wax can draw different size lines. The reservoir is for hot wax and is copper. The upper left of the picture shows a stove for heating wax.

The picture above also shows a tjap (chop) that is copper wires mounted on either wood or metal.  It is dipped in wax and then stamped onto the cloth.  I will show this process in a future post.

More wax is added with a brush to mask other areas of the cloth before the first color dye.

The fabric is dyed blue. The brown area is wax and that area will stay white at this point.

Wax is removed and only the blue dyed areas are colored. These areas had no wax during the first dyeing.

A second coat of wax is used to mask areas for the next color. Some of the areas waxed are white and some are blue. More detail is added with the tjanting at this time.

A second color dye of red is added.

This shows the piece after the red dye and after removing the wax. Two shades of red are produced by over-dyeing areas that were blue. They create that darker red.

More wax detail is added including background designs in the white area. Notice the fine lines in the white area around the edge of the design. Areas that should stay the color as is are waxed to prevent the addition of the new color.

The last dye is added which is tan or "blonde".

Final batik with all wax removed. Notice the shadings of color and fine design.

The artists must understand the layering of colors as they cover and uncover sections of the design.  The entire process is amazing in intricacy and forethought.

I am now going to treat myself to a few hours of cutting batik while thinking of these incredible artists and what they do for us.  I hope to honor their work with my own by turning these beautiful batiks into quilt designs.

Carol Britt

Hand Drawn Batik

Marty and Carol Britt tour a Batik Lovers Tour of Bali with Deb Roberts’ World of Quilt Travel.  It was fabulous.

For our first full day in Bali, we left the hotel for a Batik Factory in Tohpati to see hand drawn batik.

There was an incredible shop with the highest quality products to purchase and I could have left every penny I brought in those few rooms.

Many future Christmas presents were purchased there.

The demonstration area was outside with a roof and some electricity. There the artist drew the designs on fabric.

Then the ladies used a tjanting (chanting) to apply wax along the design lines.

The brown colors on the fabric are wax.

Dye does not penetrate the wax.

So the tjanting is used to add design lines and cover lines that are already dyed to suit the designer.

Tote bags were decorated with a wax design for each of us at this factory.

Our guide Supy negotiated to have the bags dyed for those who wished.

The dyed bags were delivered later in our journey.

My next post will be step by step pictures of the hand drawn batik process.

All photos are by Marty Britt, Wytheville, VA.

Commentary by Carol Britt, Wytheville, VA.

Green Tea Quilt Free Pattern

Green Tea Quilt by Cheryl Malkowski Features Timeless Treasures Green Tea Tonga Treat Square and Treat Strip.

You can use 2 packs of the 10″ squares or one pack of the 10″ squares plus 1 of the 2.5″ strip packs.

I think it is stunning.  I can imagine it in several of the square and strip combos available from Timeless Treasures.

New Bali Pops!

The new Hoffman Batik Bali Pops are here and they are gorgeous!

The Bali Pops are Watermelon, Key Lime, Cherry, Plum Pudding, Blueberry, and Coconut.

Click on any picture to go to our website for more info and to order.

There are free patterns using many of these and I will start by posting two of them here.  They are shown on our website Batik Etcetera under Free Patterns shown on the home page.

The first free pattern is Watermelon Shuffle by Marian Mapes and is 56″ x 66″.  We offer a kit for this quilt exactly as pictured.  I love this one and it would be pretty in any of the Bali Pops.  Consider different background colors for different effects.  Pale pink?  Light lime?

The second free pattern is Bali Love Song by Elisa Wilson using the Cherry Bali Pop.  It is 56″ x 56″ and has a great border.  We offer a kit for this quilt exactly as pictured.  Lovely!

New Black & White Batik

 Princess Mirah’s Bali Fabrics from allow us to choose their designs to be done in fantastic black and white batiks.  All of these designs are available in color combinations also. 

Don’t you love the variety of scale and the black to white values? 

I use a lot of black and white in my quilts and I do stash black and white batiks. 

The 3rd one is great for the linear nature.  It would be great in a skinny border cut across the leaves. 

Oh and the butterfly!  So expressive!

Warm Sun, Refreshing Sea

I need some sunshine, soft breezes, the smell of salt water & sun tan lotion.

But it is just May here in the mountains so I’ll have to dream my way with batik.

I love the center batik that looks like the spines of umbrellas (sun or drink umbrellas?).

The last yellow could be cut just right for a blazing sun.

Ahhhh.  I feel the soft rocking of a boat at anchor.    Carol

How to Wash Batiks and Set Dyes

I added a new page to the Blog.  It doesn’t automatically get pulled on networked blogs.  So don’t miss “How to Wash Batiks and Set Dyes” under the “About Batik” page.  It is a tab at the top of the blog.

Check it out!

Carol