Using Northcott Banyan Batiks in a modern quilt

Welcome back to QUILTsocial and to, hopefully, winter’s last gasp.  

Finally, in 15 days, spring will (officially) be here. With the arrival of spring the snow will start melting quickly, days will be longer and warmer; what’s not to love about spring?

For those who didn’t already know, Northcott introduced us to a new collection in September 2017. They added several batik collections to their already impressive fabric repertoire.

Naturally when I was asked to write this week’s posts using fabrics from the Northcott Banyan Batiks collections, I knew exactly which quilt I wanted to make. 

When the time came to choose the fabrics for this week’s project I was very happy to see that compared to many batik lines that primarily consist of medium to dark colors, the Banyan Batiks collections also offer many batik fabrics in lighter colors.

This lighter color option is something that’s very important to me because I like to have many options in the fabric tones I use.

If you’d like quilt along as I make this week’s quilt, here are the fabrics I chose from three batik collections:

• Nostalgic Vibes
• Primitive Lines
• Shadows

From the Nostalgic Vibes collection, I chose ¼ yard from each of the following fabrics: 

From the Primitive Lines collection, I chose ¼ yard from each of the following fabrics: 

From the Shadows collection, I chose 3¾ yards from the following fabric: 

81300-11 (pictured above as the background fabric).

If you’re wondering where to find these fabrics, check out my February 5, 2018 post on QUILTsocial. There you’ll find a great step-by-step guide to help you find Northcott Banyan Batiks fabrics along with all the other Northcott fabric collections.

As you saw from today’s blog post title we’re going modern? Yes! We’ll make a modern quilt using batik fabrics.

I’m guessing that some of you are thinking that the Modern Quilt Movement says not to use batiks in a modern quilt. Well, I’d refute that and respond that it isn’t so much a rule but more of a guideline.

In my case, I love working with batiks and for that reason, I’m asserting my right to rebel and use batiks to make a modern quilt! After all, at the end of the day, the quilt belongs to the maker and the maker must be happy with his or her choice of fabrics!

Before we launch into the details of making the quilt we must chat about the age-old question. Do we pre-wash our fabrics or not?

The colors of Batik fabrics are known to bleed when washed, especially the medium to dark fabrics. Not wanting to take a chance with this quilt, I checked my chosen fabrics. I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, there was some bleeding, but overall I was very impressed with how little there was. I forged ahead (after performing this pre-check) and pre-washed all of the fabrics.

Now, go rest because tomorrow we’ll start cutting and sewing these delicious fabrics from the Northcott Banyan Batik Nostalgic Vibe, Primitive Linesand Shadows collections.