I have not hand pieced with batiks but I have hand quilted them with regular fabric for backing and have also used flannel backing. One I had a pieced backing that had a very small square of batik on the back as well. No problems but I do feel regular quilting cottons are easier to needle. Think the difference of room temperature butter vs butter straight out of the fridge. This is a bit extreme but it is much easier to spread room temp butter on to warm toast than it is cold. Both are quite doable, one just takes a wee bit more effort. Kind of the same with hand quilting batiks I do use batiks for hand applique and I love using them for applique, mostly for the color selections but they tend to not ravel very easily either which is very nice for needle turn and prepared hand applique. I use a Roxanne applique needle and silk thread for this and have no problems.