April WestSide Modern Meeting - Focus on Batiks At April 30th's meeting, we focused on batiks. At first, "Modern Quilters" wouldn't touch batiks, but the modern and traditional worlds are starting to converge and we explored all things batik. Reba, from "Majestic Batiks" was our guest speaker. She's a local girl and her family owns Majestic Batiks. She recently returned from Indonesia and shared all kinds of information about how batiks are used and made. She even got to be part of the dying process! WE learned that Indonesia is made up of 13,000 islands, has 365 languages, and just as many styles of batiks. Batiks are a tradition in Indonesia. They don't use them for quilts... it's too hot for quilts on the equator. They are used in clothing, sarongs, bags, etc. The process includes dying the fabric once, putting it out to dry in the sun with soda ash. Wax is apllied and the fabric is stamped with hand made copper tjaps for each color in the design. The fabric is bleached and rinsed after step, put through a "no bleed" process, through a hand cranked machine and placed in the sun to dry. It takes 6 days to make one bolt of fabric! The Pine Needle carries her color-fast batiks. Look for them here! Tjaps for new designs Hanging to dry after first 3-die session (day 3) Hand waxing process (day 4) Geri gave some tips on how to use batiks in modern quilting. Mix them with solids or blacks and whites. Use them in a modern pattern. More tips on working with batiks: Needles: Use 80/12 Schmetz Universal needles for going through the heavier cloth. Change your needle every 8 hours. Thread: use 50 wt. thread Mary Ellen's Best Press - spray 8-12 inches away from fabric. it crisps up pre-washed fabric. Synthrapol: to pre-wash batiks and set the color. To test for color fastness, spray the fabric with water, iron it or rub it onto muslin to see if it bleeds. Rotary Cutter - use a sharp blade Challenge Block - Orchid We shared challenge blocks from our February meeting using the Pantone Color of the year - Orchid. Show and Tell And last but not least... the ever popular Show and Tell - Wow - what a talented group of women. Ann Crowder won Mo Biddel's Fat Quarter pack at an earlier WSM meeting and made this Avalon Quilt. The Avalon pattern is from International Quilt Festival 2011/2012 Barbara's - Canby Quilt Guild 15th Anniversary Barbara's Table Runner Connie Brown's - Half Baked Connie's quilt for her Granddaughter's High School Graduation Mallory's Triangle Quilt for her Grandson Nancy's Honeycomb quilt from the book, "Modern Patchwork" by Elizabeth Hartman. It has Minky on the back! Sally's Missoula Flood Quilt Sandy's Sexy Hexies - from the pattern "Science Fair" by Jaybird Quilts Join us On May 28th for our next meeting.