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
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
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