As many in this business do, I receive numerous requests to review books and products on my blog. I always turn these down. However, when a query arrived about the above pictured book by Judith Vincentz Gula, I was intrigued, and said yes...for two reasons. Over the past couple of years, I have been working almost exclusively with batiks, and am a huge fan of these beautiful hand dyed fabrics. I welcomed the opportunity to learn more. The second reason is that I am familiar with the author's website and found it to be a wealth of interesting information. I landed there first from a Google search on "batik tjaps", and have re-visited the site many times to view Judith's collection of antique and vintage copper tjaps.
Colorful Batik Panel Quilts: 28 Quilting & Embellishing Inspirations from Around The World by Fox Chapel Publishing, shows how to embellish Indonesian hand-made batik panels, to turn these Fair-Trade fabrics into one-of-a-kind art pieces for your home. These techniques would work with beautiful Island Batik fabrics as well as with the panels Judith shows.
The book flows in a logical progression, from the starting point of explaining the batik process, to bordering and embellishing the panels, and ending with a gallery of 24 finished art quilts. Although the book is not large, there is a great deal of information packed into the 64 pages. Clicking this link will allow you to see a few of the pages, which include simple patchwork instruction for 3 projects (such as how to create log cabin blocks) as well as a primer on hand embroidery stitches. This is not an in-depth look at batiks by any means, but a good introduction to open one's mind to possibilities. The strength of the book lies in the profusion of pictures on every page, vibrantly printed on glossy stock. I enjoyed seeing the beautiful pieces created from these fabric panels.
Looks like an interesting book. Perhaps I will suggest it for my quilt group.
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