Welcome to Island Batik Week!! We’re down to the last few weeks of Summer and couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than to share a gorgeous range of vibrant and versatile batik fabrics along with their coordinating Aurifil threads. <3 We absolutely adore working with Island Batik and have so much respect for its designers and staff. We’ll be featuring one designer/collection every day this week. We’ll have giveaways running throughout the week, including fabric, thread, and more, 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 2018 releases, in-stores now, click here or on the image below to browse the catalog.
ISLAND BATIK WEEK SCHEDULE
August 20 – Island Batik Foundations
August 21 – The Just in Time Promotion!
August 22 – Snowy River Hosta, Jennifer Mellow
August 23 – Oceans Odyssey, Angie Steveson
August 24 – Babyhood & WhatNot, Barbara Persing
Island Batik’s Foundation Collection by design lead Kathy Engle is a stunning range of fabrics that could truly be the foundation of every quilt shop and every quilter’s stash! A full 200 SKUs in Basics, Blenders, and Neutral palettes, there is something for every project need. We adore working with Island Batik and were thrilled to work with them on an initial box of Foundation threads to coordinate. The collection features 12 Large Spools of Aurifil 50wt thread — a full 1422 yards per spool! The colors represent each category of the Foundations collection making it a wonderful stash builder for any batik enthusiast.
Basics
A vibrant rainbow of batik solids and mottles perfect for any project.
Blenders
Tone-on-tone fabrics in a range of color, perfect for mixing with our seasonal collections or standing on their own!
Neutrals
A collection of neutrals meant to highlight any bold batik project. We offer a selection of neutral tones and shade that range from nearly white to cream to light tan.
THREAD COLLECTION DETAILS
Foundations
12 Large Spools, 50wt (1422yds/spool), 100% Aurifil Cotton
2360 – 2460 – 2250 – 2150 – 2582 – 2783
2810 – 2870 – 2310 – 2123 – 6726 – 2630
To view this info on our website, click the image above. For purchasing, please contact your local Aurifil Dealer.
THE INTERVIEW
How fun to kick this off with you all, the folks that we all know and love at the heart of Island Batik’s Marketing & Creative efforts! Can you tell us a bit about your Foundations fabric collection and how it came to be?
Our Vice President of Design Services, Kathy Engle, who has over 30 years of experience designing batik created this line of Basics, Blenders, and Neutrals as a foundation for all of our seasonal collection. The range of color and value, and the mix of batik “solids” and tone-on-tones mix perfectly with every seasonal collection we release and as you can see by the many Batik Foundation projects some of our pattern designers have created, the fabrics stand on their own, too! Foundations is appropriately named because they are the foundation you need in any quilt store or any quilter’s stash.
Is there a particular color palette at play, or is the collection a wide range representation?
We wanted a rainbow of colors and a wide range of value was equally important.
What was the overall creative direction for the collection? How were the prints determined and grouped?
While color and value were extremely important while we were developing the line, we wanted to be sure the Blenders (tone-on-tones) had small scale designs so that they could blend seamlessly into any quilt project! We wanted to develop a line that represented the color wheel and gave shops and quilters everything they needed.
Do you have a favorite?
It depends on the day, and who you ask! 😉 With 200 fabrics, we have a lot of favorites!
Do you have a favorite project that was made to highlight the collection?
I’m so glad you asked! We have a number of projects that were made to highlight our Batik Foundations, even Block of the Month programs! We worked with a few select pattern designers to help bring this collection to life and show its versatility as a line as well as the supporting cast to our seasonal lines.
We were pretty excited to work with you to release an Island Batik House Thread Collection, to coordinate with these gorgeous fabrics, The Foundations Collection. Why was it important to you to create this thread collection?
A must-have collection of fabrics needs a must-have thread collection to go with it! We wanted to pair our most beloved (and best-selling) fabrics with some of Aurifil’s best sellers and customer favorites. Together, any quilter has a solid foundation on which to build any quilt!
How did you go about selecting colors? Was there a particular palette used?
While it’s always hard to narrow down the list of favorites, we selected thread colors that both coordinated well with our range of fabrics and we wanted to include the basic thread colors that should be in every thread stash. We also chose the colors we knew AuriFans loved!
Do you have any key recommendations for our readers for working with your batik fabrics in partner with Aurifil thread?
We’re a match made in heaven! You just can’t go wrong! 😉 We always recommend prewashing batik (ANY batik), especially dark, saturated colors like red, purple and blue. Our batik is made with the highest quality greige goods. Using high quality thread like Aurifil and good quality needles will always produce great results!
THE GIVEAWAY
To enter-to-win in our Island Batik Week Giveaway, 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 Friday, August 31! We will select 5 random winners for 5 super amazing prize packs and will announce here on Tuesday, September 4. Good luck!
ABOUT KATHY ENGLE
Kathy Brett Engle is the Vice President of Design at Island Batik. An established member of the textile industry for over 30 years, she brought her expertise of Batik design to Island Batik in 2008 to develop batik collections and products specifically designed for quilting related retailers.
Prior to Island Batik, Kathy worked for Hoffman of California. During the 23 years she was with the company, she designed fabrics for both sportswear and specialty manufacturing, and then the fabric retail division serving fabric stores and quilt shops as Design Director until 2007.
A native Californian and graduate of CSULB, Kathy is married, a mother to two grown sons, and grandmother. She lives and loves the Southern Californian coastal lifestyle!
ABOUT ISLAND BATIK
Website — Blog — Facebook — Pinterest — Twitter — Instagram
Island Batik is a manufacturer, importer and distributor of cotton batik, rayon batik and hand-printed cotton from Indonesia. Originally established in 1997, Island Batik’s mission is to share the ancient cultural art of batik and hand-dyed fabric with our many valued customers around the world.
** Images courtesy of Island Batik **
I love that batiks are crisp and smooth. The colors are vibrant. They iron well.
I love how subtle the colours change as they move within the hue. A stash of those foundations would be a quilters dream!
I love that the edges do not ravel, so you don’t have to be as careful to do you piecing. Saves time and when you sandwich the quilt, you don’t have stragglers under the top to dig out.
I love all the blenders and quality.
Better than a new box of crayons
I like applique with bails, much less fray! Thanks for the great giveaway
So soft, pretty colors. thread glides through….
I love everything about batik fabric. The wide variety in batiks. How I can use them in both modern quilting or traditional. I love the versatility in them. I can use them to make blocks, whole cloth, appliqué, art, accents, truly anything you can thing of you can use batiks. They iron amazing and smooth. I love using batiks. To think there was a time I was scared to use them makes me giggle.
I like the tighter weave and the natural coloring..great for appliqué!
Batiks are one of my favorite fabrics to create with because each piece will be unique.
The Batik’s are absolutely beautiful, they would make any project stunning. I love the matching thread. I would love to use the batik to make the gorgeous quilt displayed above and summer dresses for my grand children. Thank you for the opportunity to win the giveaway. X
Love batiks the color saturation allows you to use the wrong side if you want and a favorite for raw edge appliqué
I can’t just pick one reason what I love most about working with Batiks. I love how dense the fabric is, that there isn’t a right or wrong side, the color saturation, very little to no fraying of the edges, and the tone on tone of the Foundation Collection as well as the myriad of designs with multiple colors. The little quilt in my avatar was made from Batiks.
The colors, the designs & SO MANY CHOICES!
Love the foundations line! I am an ambassador this year for Island batik and having a blast with their fabrics AND the Aurifil thread that accompanied our boxes. It’s a great partnership and I am honored to be a part of it.
Wow! What a great range of colors. Batik blenders can be used with just about any project to pull a wide range of prints together.
I haven’t worked with batiks much, but I love the different color variations in them. It is so fun to see what part of the design shows up the best in the block.
These colors are just beautiful! I would love to own enough batiks to make a whole quilt.
I love the range of color variations in batiks, esp. the tone-on-tone and small print ones. And how all the variations make the quilt unique.
What I love most about batiks is the gorgeous colors and designs!
I really love the colors and the ease of use because of no right or wrong side of the fabric.
Love the designs and colors of batiks.
Batiks intrigue me, no matter where you cut into the fabric, the look and texture can vary and it just adds so much beauty to the project I’m creating. Thank you
I love the colors and the feel of batiks!
Batiks blend so well and add texture to my quilts.
I use batiks 95 % of the time- it’s like a palette of water colors…they just blend!
What I love most about batiks are the wonderful, saturated colors. Thanks.
Color, color, color … and then the finish. I love batiks!
I love the vibrant colors and the subtle variations.
I haven’t worked with batiks that much yet. I do like the colors and the fact that I can choose to use the back side or the front side of the fabric.
What a stunning collection of fabrics. I love the feel of batiks, the way they sew and that front and back are the same. Thanks for the chance to win.
I love that batiks are so easy to coordinate with other fabrics and always, ALWAYS look great in my projects! My eye loves to wander over the colors and saturation levels within one piece. They are wonderful to work with!
Love batiks….my favorite fabric. It can blend with any fabric.
Island Batik is really the best batik on the market. The base fabric has such great body and drape, and seldom ravels while working with it. The colors and designs are rich and fun, and make any quilt design really dance with joy. Aurifil is the best thread to sew with Island Batik, the colors together are wonderful, and the thread and a good needle make the best seams.
I love the saturated colors and the fact that batiks do not generally ravel. They don’t stretch out of shape because they are woven so tight. I really love the way you have combined them with the Aurifil thread collections.
I love the texture and color saturation batiks bring to any project.
I love the crispness of batiks that makes them so easy to work with, as well as the amazing range of colors, often within a single piece of fabric.
I LOVE the vibrant colours and that it’s hard to tell one side from the other😊
I Love the patterns & colors!! & the softness & easy sewing. Batiks are soooo versatile…and soooo beautiful! Thank you for chance to win your Give-a-way too 🙂
I love the color, the texture, the feel and there is no right or wrong side.
Batiks gave color, movement, beautiful hand, and subtle design. They make quilts that grab the eye
Batiks, in my opinion, are the most versatile in all fabrics, I do a lot of applique and found that they can be used for anything I applique, where other fabrics just don’t work as well. I also love the color variation in each one which makes it perfect for just about any quilt.
The colors and designs.
I love that batis are so crisp to work with, Island Batiks especially so, and the vibrancy of the colours
Love your colors! Thanks!
I love how batik colors have so much depth and add something extra to a design. Thanks for the chance to win.
batiks are the foundation of my stash. they work with everything as well as stand alone. I like the tighter weave and crisp press when sewing complicated blocks.
I love the awesome bright colors and patterns!
Color! Also little fraying and you can use either side of the fabric.
I love all the color variations and the crispness of the fabric. It’s a dream to sew with.
I love the versatility of batiks and the wonderful saturated colors. I also like how multicolor batiks make it easy to blend many designs together in one quilt.
Everything about the fabric – color, design, quality.
I love everything…no fraying, flatter, the depth of color!!
Thank you!!
Thanks for this beautiful post! I love the painterly colors and the crisp hand of batiks.
There’s so much to love here! I think Tropical Sunshine and Stacked are my favorites because they are light and airy feeling.
I love how batiks blend such beautiful colors and motifs! They can be subtle or as “out there” as you want! LOL Plus they stitch together so well!
I love the changes of color/shades in one piece of fabric. Some of the designs printed on them are wonderful – under the sea animals.
Like them all, but love Memphis Blues!
I like how you can use either side of the batik fabric for quilt making.
I love the beautiful saturated colors of batiks and the way it crinkles after being quilted and then washed. Thanks!
I love the beautiful colors and the feel of the fabric.
I love the saturated colors!
I also love the saturated colors. 🙂