Favorite Fabrics

Do you have a favorite brand? What is it about certain batiks - or lines of batiks - that you find more appealing than others?

The reason I'm asking, is that (being a buyer for a fabric store) I have all sorts of vendors e-mailing me pictures of their lines. And this morning I received pictures of a line of batiks that, frankly, I thought was really quite awful, compared to others I've seen.

Though, of course, we all are drawn to and appreciate different fabrics.

And even though the price on this line was excellent... the fabrics were still... well, not beautiful.

When I first started buying batiks they looked a lot alike to me... and now I'm finding that the batiks from the various makers look very different from one another indeed. But it's really hard to put into words this "change in view". Somehow I've become a bit picky... but I can't explain it.

And so I'm wondering, those of you who love batiks, have you also become very choosy? What is it that you look for?

KR

I love the leafy designs rather than the big splotchy looking ones. And I lean toward the cool colors....forest greens, Caribbean blues, rich purples....but there are some cranberry reds and rusts that are gorgeous, too.

Hoffman and Timeless Treasures have beautiful patterns and nice quality. Connecting Threads' batiks are also very nice and are more affordably priced.

MTS

The recent Lunn batiks are just breathtaking. And there is something that sets them apart. I don't know what it is, a vibrancy and/or really, really saturated colors - something more than just the latest chop pattern.
Not that I won't buy the latest chop pattern if I liked it. ;-)

I remember when Benartex entered the batik market around 6(?) years ago with their triple dyed collection. GORGEOUS. I still have a ton of it. But now it doesn't look as original.

And not that I also won't buy the a batik at Joann's if I like it - but those mostly all end up on the back of quilts. I rarely look at those for inspiration incorporate into the design on the front of the quilt. The patterns are too oversized for that. And Joann's batiks have a "look" to them as well.

bearisgray

what is a "chop pattern"?

sahm4605

With batiks I like more of the tonal printed ones. Ie not the ones that look like a rainbow scratch board type. I also lean toward the cooler colors and jewel tones. I have only made one quilt with reds and Goldstein and blacks and oranges and it was from free fabric. What I buy are usually more purple green and blue. I like them to have a pattern to them also. But be in the shades of the main color. That being said I do have a. Iuple of batiks that could be called two colors but again they are next o eachother on the color wheele. This being said I do love the almost both tye dye batiks from connecting threads for backing and binding. I know I am a little bi polar with fabric likes. Would love to see the batiks you didn't like they emailed you.

katier825

I like various brands, Hoffman, Kaufman, Timeless Treasures, Island Batiks, etc. Some of the Anthology ones are nice too. If I buy a patterned batik, I like to see an obvious design, not a bunch of wax blobs like you sometimes see in the less expensive brands. I'd rather wait for the good stuff to go on sale or clearance than to buy what I don't really like.

lfletcher

I like the tone on tone the best. Some of the batiks are too "busy" for my taste.

Glassquilt

A seal, in an East Asian context, is a general name for printing stamps and impressions

Lori S

I look for a natural progression in color changes ( hard to define with the right word) , not an abrubt blob of a color that seems to appear without a balance to the rest of the yardage.... and a pattern that flows thru the yardage as well. For me its difficult to work with a batik that has color changes that are not dispersed with some balance in the yardage.
I buy almost a few hundred yards ( maybe a bit more) a year. If I really think about it the batiks that get used the most are those whose colors appear in the same quadrant of the color wheel. the project may have other contrast but I pick differnent fabrics to accomplish the contrast. But a few "focus" batiks will have colors in the same quadrant but the "backround" is across from them on the color wheel , take for example the great fall batiks.
The watercolors by Hoffman and Kaufman continue to be a good "filler" when stumped for finding a color and pattern suitable , but I am contastantly on the look out for good alternatives , that would be small patterns ( that will read in the smallest of cuts) and colors that blend to the eye from a distance of 4 ft or so.
Not a fan of geometric patterns or the apperance of a perseved "grid" in batiks , there seems to be a natural conflict ..... the pattern looks ... too predicable ... and this is a conflict in my brain as to what I like about batiks .
It is very hard to define a great batik .. but I know them when I see them....
Moda had some great lines a few years ago .. but seems to have lost some of its ...... great use of colors.
Its a issue with batiks not having any way to identify the manufacture once you leave the shop.... No selvage identifier to remind the consumer whose product you are using. I do like that some of the online retailers have the stickers that arrive on the yardage that tell the manufacture and some the manufactures stock number ... this is really important info when the watercolors are used ... if you need more and the number is on it you can get that one again.

MTS

For example, these are the Hoffman Bali Chops:
http://www.batiksplus.com/SuperStore...sortmentID=353
The stamp is used to create the wax resist patterns on the fabric, which is then dyed, sometimes multiple times, sometimes re-stamped again with another pattern, and re-dyed, and on and on it goes.