History of Batiks
Our Java Designs originated over 1000 years ago in Southeast Asia, mainly in Indonesia. According to legend, an Indonesian king married a beautiful princess, but soon she was very lonely because the king was always busy with his many duties. His wife had a lot of time on her hands, for she had many servants and nothing to do. As a way of dealing with her lonliness and in an attempt to attract her husband's attention, the queen looked for things to do and began creating patterns and drawings on cotton fabric. She took dyes made from indigo and other local plants, wax, and using a tool called a canting (pronounced chanting) she created beautiful batik fabrics. As she progressed with her craft, the designs became more intricate and were very beautiful. One day the king noticed her work. He was amazed by the beauty of the fabrics. He praised her for her work and their love grew. He visited her often to see the wonderful designs she had created. And so they lived in their kraton or palace for many happy years. When you look closely at our Java Designs, you will find flowers and stars which represent their love and hope. Some of the designs are still used today. These designs are truely the original batiks.
Batik is an Indonesian word that traditionally refers to using a wax resist dyeing method to create designs in fabric. The word is a combination of two Javanese words. "Amba" which means "to write" and and "titik" meaning "dot". Our fabrics that we refer to as Java Designs are batiks because of their designs. They are 100% cotton and screen printed using batik designs from Indonesia - hence the name Batiks by Design. As an Indonesian friend of mine said to me, "If they had the machines over a thousand years ago when they began making these fabrics, they would have used them!". We can buy these types of fabrics made using the wax resist method, but they are very expensive due to the intricate designs. We feel that we are giving you a chance to work with these luscious fabrics at a reasonable cost by importing the machine printed designs. Anywhere in southeast Asia that you travel you will encounter these type of batik designs. We guarantee the quality of our fabrics and we know you'll love the designs. They are wonderful when used with Bali batik and hand dyed fabrics. Check out our gallery to see what we've made with them.
Links to sites describing the traditional methods for making batik fabrics:
Batik, Traditional Fabric of Indonesia
Find beautiful quilting fabrics and textiles at our Waverly, Tennessee fabric store for quilters and sewers. Find beautiful Java Designs and Bali batik fabrics, along with a variety of quilting and sewing fabrics, notions, and patterns at our online fabric store for quilters and others who love fabrics. Just click on the link to the left for our online store and discover a whole world of batiks.