I bet Jinny Beyer would know since she has her own lines. Contact her for her opinion.

Back in the 1950's I made some cute dresses for my little sister and myself from a beautiful plaid. I always loved plaid and this one had some areas that were black. We wore them for a long time. When they got older I noticed that they were getting holes in the fabric, but only in the black parts.

Sometimes the black dye is hard on the fabric. I sold Tupperware for a while, and at some point we were selling canister sets in a dark brown. It didn't take long to start getting these canister seals back to be replaced as they were cracking. We replaced a lot of the brown ones. Tupperware stopped making them.

I'd also bet on a dye process along with a dye. Is the quilt in a lot of light? (Not direct sun, but a sunny room?)

I've seen very expensive dresses sold where the mfg did not tell the customer to remove buttons for dry cleaning. I think that when a new process is used, the mfg don't quite find all the exceptions. The button mfg could not have tested buttons on perchloroethylene and sold them as tested.

With embroidery floss, black seemed to be thinner due to process, and red had a problem with setting.

The quilt is not in a sunny room, no. I think part of the problem is pin holes that have frayed. Batiks are so tightly woven that any pin stab can potentially break a thread. The broken thread area can fray, leading to a hole. That's my assumption and one that will limit my use of batiks.

Cotton fabric deterioration is not limited to batiks.

I bought three bolts of fabric - maybe 15 years or so ago - all the same brand and at the same time and stored right next to each other in a dark closet.

The two blues are as good as ever. The black is totally weird - when put in water, it turned the water inky black and left sooty residue. It also left sooty residue in the dryer. When washed in the washing machine - after several rinses - I was hoping it would stop turning the water black, it shredded - and left sooty residue.

Oh I'm sure it's not limited to batiks. And I don't think all batiks do this, either.

Your story worries me. I have a whole bunch of fabric that will celebrate it's 20th anniversary next year, LOL. I guess if it survives a washing after this long, it’s good to go in quilts. And if it disintentegrates in the washer, I'm glad I never sewed it into a quilt! And I guess yours is a cautionary tale about not letting our stashes get too large....I wonder if washing the fabric helps it's longevity, to get out the dyes that could go on to degrade the fabric.

I remember years ago in an article from a quilt magazine that a fabric designer said she did not use batiks because the fabric will not stand the test of time. I have kept that in mind all these years. I use batiks though. They are beautiful so that is why I buy them to use for the guilts I know won't last years that we use for everything from beach, dog, to furniture throws.

I guess the moral of the story is to use, use, use your batik quilts so they wear out from use before the fabric deteriorates.:thumbup:

I, too, will be watching this topic as I have MANY batiks, and love working with them. If you haven't washed them before storing, possibly some silverfish got to them because they love the "sizing" that most fabrics have on them prior to our washing it out. And, yes, silverfish do seem to materialize when and where we have no idea how they get into plastic containers, etc. Perhaps some of their eggs are attached to or imbedded in the fabric at time of purchase!

Some things that can lead to fabric deterioration:

The dye used
Exposure to sunlight
Being stored in unsuitable conditions
Bugs and vermin
Mildew
Bleach and/or peroxide