Welcome to day 2 of Island Batik Week!! In this final month of Summer, we are celebrating the vibrant colors of Island Batik’s Spring/Summer releases. We absolutely adore working with this wonderful company and have so much respect for its designers. We’ll be featuring one designer every day this week and each post will offer a fabric + thread giveaway, so make sure to come back daily to learn more and to enter-to-win some gorgeous prizes!
To learn about Island Batik and the batik process, please visit their website. For a peek at the full range of Spring/Summer 2017 releases, in-stores now, click here or on the image below to browse the catalog.
ISLAND BATIK WEEK SCHEDULE
August 21 – Jackie Kunkel on Auribuzz (Jackie’s Post — Island Batik’s Post)
August 22 – Tammy Silvers (Island Batik’s Post)
August 23 – Cheri Good Designs
August 24 – Nan Baker
August 25 – Ebony Love
Batiks Go Retro is by Tammy Silvers of Tamaranis. This is Tammy’s first solo collection with Island Batik and we are completely enamored with how the colors are perfectly accented by the subtle retro patterns. The collection was inspired by atomic images of the 1950s. Those awesome shapes carried promise of space travel and future technology, the spirit of possibility and the sense of fun. In the collection, you’ll find little atomic TVs, the iconic wedges, free-wheeling flowers, and the sunburst that was practically a required decorating element in every home at that time.
While we don’t have a curated collection for Batiks Go Retro, we were thrilled to see that the colors line up well with Tammy’s Coastal Mist collection. Tammy was also kind enough to recommend 6 stunning spools of our 50wt thread.
THE INTERVIEW
How did you first get involved with Island Batik?
Oh, another tough one. I don’t remember the first initial contact, but I’ve been creating projects for Island Batik for years and years and (cough) years. It has always been a wonderful experience, whether creating projects for publications, or for my own pattern line. I mean, who wouldn’t love working with all those luscious fabrics? Any project looks awesome in their batiks!
What do you love most about Batik fabrics?
I love so many things about batiks – the saturation of color, even in the soft pastels (yes, I do use pastels – sometimes!). I love the high thread count of batiks, which means your piecing is true because the fabric isn’t stretching out of shape. I love that there usually isn’t a wrong or a right side – which makes cutting and piecing so much easier. I love the range of colors and motifs. I guess you can tell – I love batiks in general, and they truly are my “go to” fabrics of choice.
What do you love most about Batiks Go Retro?
Argh – I can’t pick just one thing. I love the fun motifs (she says modestly), and the wonderful range of color the collection has. Everything from soft pastels to some wonderfully vibrant ode-to-the 50s brights – acid greens, sun washed turquoise, juicy orange.
What inspired the line?
I’ve always loved the clean lines of atomic design AND I grew up watching the Jetsons. Didn’t we all dream of a robot maid and flying cars? Those fond memories, combined with the distinctive shapes from the late 50s and early 60s, lead to Batiks Go Retro.
Do you have a favorite project created with the fabrics?
Hmm….again, difficult to pick favorites. I would say my two favorites are Atomic Bombshell, which is a fun, surprisingly quick to paper piece quilt that really plays on the atomic bursts and sharp points of the time period. And then Wedge-O-Matic takes the wedge shape to new levels.
What is coming up next for you, where can we find you this year?
I’m thrilled to be introducing my next line with Island Batik this fall – Elementz, a graphic interpretation of the earth’s elements in shape and color. And I’m honored that several projects in Batiks Go Retro and in Elementz will be featured in different publications, including McCalls, American Patchwork and Quilting and Fons and Porter.
FUN LINKS
Tammy’s Launch Post
Batiks Go Retro
Seashore by Tammy Silvers
Coastal Mist by Tammy Silvers
BLOG HOP
The Batiks Go Retro Blog Hop kicks off of on September 17. Keep an eye on Tammy’s blog for more info!
THE GIVEAWAY
To enter-to-win 6 Large Spools of Aurifil 50wt thread in Tammy’s coordinating colors + one stack of Batiks Go Retro fabrics from Island Batik + 3 patterns by Tammy Silvers for Tamarinis, click here to head to the Rafflecopter entry page, or simply click on the image above. You do not have to complete all the options to be entered but the more options you choose, the more entries you have! Entries will be accepted from now through 11:59pm Eastern Time on Thursday, August 31! Winner will be randomly selected and announced here on Friday, September 1. Good luck!
UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to our winner, Janie Taylor! (Winner has been emailed 🙂 )
ABOUT TAMMY
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Tammy is a Georgia native and currently lives in Acworth with her husband, children (when they come to visit!), dog, and her favorite fat cats.
Under the label Tamarinis, her designs are regularly published in a variety of quilt magazines, including Quilt, McCall’s Quilting, American Patchwork and Quilting, Stitch, Fons and Porter’s Love of Quilting, Quilty, Quilt It…Today, Sew It…Today, Stitch and Create and Decorate. She also works with some of the major fabric manufacturers designing projects to showcase and promote their fabric lines, including Island Batik (of course!), Northcott Fabrics, Blend, Camelot and Fabri-Quilt.
ABOUT ISLAND BATIK
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