Like all fabrics, there are batiks and then there are batiks. I usually stick with the ones in quilt shops, not the chain stores. I have bought batiks that would not hold their color. I have gotten some that really shrink. Hence the sticking with the batiks in the quilt shops and preferable one that has been open for a while and who has carried a specific brand of batik for a while as they would not be carrying a product that has been a problem for them. I don't use batiks all that often, they are pretty. But they have a stiffer feel for me, and I prefer to use quilts made of regular quilting cotton.