Fabric Friday: Batiste

Batiste [buh-teest] is a very fine and light weight balanced plain weave fabric, which is opaque. It is breathable and lends itself to pleating and pretty gathers, and so is prized for high end summer weight blouses, and lingerie.

Photo courtesy of 

Claudette's Vintage Vault on Etsy.com

Made of cotton or a wool cotton blend (though now often made of rayon and polyester as well) Batiste is also used for window panels, and baby items - especially christening gowns. It is believed that Cambric was the predecessor to batiste and was at that time always made of linen. 

The name derives from the Flemish word Cambrai and was made in the region that became part of France in 1677. The French word for the same fabric was batiste. Batiste is often said to have been invented in the 13^th century (or later) by Jean Baptiste, a French linen weaver. However, we find no historical evidence to support this connection.

Our modern day fabrics are often misnamed and further confused by the wide array of fiber contents. Batiste made of all cotton (especially combed or carded cotton) is finer and more expensive than synthetic products. Organdy, which is the same fiber content and weave as batiste, differs in the finishing. It receives and acid wash which makes it more transparent and lustrous.
You may also be familiar with ribbon called organdy. Though there are some high quality ribbons woven and processed just as their larger fabric counterparts. Most of the ribbon you will see in craft and fabric shops is going to be synthetic polyester and for many decorating applications that is just fine.

Organza, another similar appearing fabric, is actually made of silk. Cotton lawn is also similar to batiste, but is generally made of a slightly looser weave resulting in a softer fabric. The name lawn, by the way, comes from the French Laune and was originally produced in Laon in France.

The history of this fabric is even more complicated by the fact that England banned the import of batiste from France at one time in favor of imports from their colony in India. This change resulted in the Indian fabric called Nainsook [neyn-soo k], which is similar in fiber content and weave, being called batiste. 

And then there is voile [voil; French vwal]. Voile, from the old French word for veil, is more like lawn than batiste (that is a looser weave and perhaps the thread is not quite so fine), but it is a bit stiffer than lawn. Both lawn and voile take dye well and are more likely to have printed designs, where batiste is almost always a solid color (white, ivory or other pastels are most common)

All of this history is interesting, but the most important thing to know is that fine cotton batiste and less expensive synthetic substitutes are readily available, and ideal for clothing, sheer draperies, and lightweight linings – especially for clothing that must be lined but where maintaining breathability is desired. It is also suitable for fine needlework, handkerchiefs, etc. Today some of the finest come from Switzerland, and organic cotton fabric is also available.

Mug Rug Madness

Somehow I've managed to miss being caught up in the mug rug craze that has swept through the quilting world for the past few years. What's a mug rug you ask? Well it's part oversized coaster, part undersized place mat, and mostly an excuse for quilters to use up scraps and make small quilted objects to share like trading cards.

No, not those kind of trading cards, though I will point out that the Atlanta Braves reported for the start of spring training today.

Artist Trading Cards (ATC's for short) are the size of baseball cards (2 ½ x 3 ½ inches) but are handmade works of art. The only real rule is the size and they are often traded in craft clubs - especially among scrapbook folks.

Enter the mug rug. Here there really are no rules. Sewists and quilters have been snipping, stitching, and sharing these small treasures for about three years. I was a bit late to the party, but used the idea to make a fabric birthday card for a special little boy back in March 2011. I had a new machine and was playing with stitches. Not too impressive that. But wait...

Don't you love men that know the roses
don't always have to be red?

If I missed the party, why do I find myself with a table full of them now. Last month a new modern quilt guild was born in Atlanta.  The West Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild held their first meeting in January and decided to swap mug rugs at the next meeting. So here I am making tiny quilts on which to rest a cup and a little piece of something - a piece of candy, a cookie, certainly nothing as healthy as a piece of fruit.

I've played with appliqued hexies

strategic positioning

Small scale wonky log cabin

Embroidery to echo the design in one fabric... too bad that french knot unraveled on me.

They certainly make great practice pieces for machine quilting. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't quilt curvy lines on an old Singer 15-91 (circa 1955) with a walking foot.

I think it might be time to start drawing on the fabric before I quilt it. I have some luscious Copic Markers and a little stack of white, red, and pink scraps that are calling to me from the studio, so I'm off. 

Happy Valentines day everybody!

Update:

Quick and dirty. Lame job on the machine quilting and the binding isn't even finished (just pinned in back) but can't you imagine some fun projects with this. I have an idea for a twelve block quilt with one block for each month of the year. Each block would feature something that is blooming in my garden that month. I think a combination of applique, these markers, and thread painting could make some really striking images. Can't wait to get started!

Log Cabins and the Quilts of Gees Bend

Before I was doing much quilting at all a friend and I went to see the “Quilts of Gees Bend” exhibit at the High Museum here in Atlanta. That was in 2005 I think. I was making a crazy quilt inspired by one my Mom had from her mother – the first and, I thought, the last quilt I would ever make.

Annie Mae Young, b. 1928

Work-clothes quilt with center 

medallion  of corduroy strips

ca. 1976 Denim, corduroy, 

synthetic blend 108 x 77 inches 

That exhibit touched me deeply. I was inspired by the stories of these creative women and the simple beauty they brought to the necessities and realities of life: a warm blanket to keep the children warm, the need to use what came to hand, and the loss of a loved one remembered in the quilt made of his old work clothes. It made me want to make more quilts and ones of my own design.

I believe that exhibit was the first place I learned of the “log cabin” design, so I can perhaps be forgiven if it took me awhile to realize that most log cabin quilts aren't wonky.

Through magazines and books I taught myself the basics and before long I was hooked. Since then I've made many quilts, some modern, some traditional and even a few wonky log cabin throws.

I have tended toward the modern, but recently I've become more curious about traditional quilt designs and blocks. I suspect the stars in this early quilt I designed have a name. Surely I didn't invent something totally new. That is pretty hard to do when working with the basic shapes (squares, rectangles and triangles).

Today I've been learning more about just a few of the traditional “sets” used with the log cabin block. A set is the way that the blocks are laid out to make different designs. I've also been reading a bit about the history of log cabins.
Many histories suggest that the log cabin was an American design inspired by the western movement onto the prairie. The traditionally red center block represented the hearth, and the light values on one side represented the sunny side of the log cabin, while the darker values represented the shady side. It certainly sounds right.

However, it seems that the design has been around at least since the time of the pharaohs.  When the tombs in Egypt were opened by British explorers, they found mummified animals (cats, etc.) that had been wrapped in fabric with the distinctive alternating light and dark strips – some even dyed different colors. It is certainly possible that this design sprang up independently in multiple locations and times. Who is to say.

More fascinating to me are all of the different designs you can make with that simple block shown above.

The Straight Set

The Barn Raising

Straight Furrows

Streak of Lightening or Zig Zag

Pinwheels

Chevrons

Stars

And then there are the variations on the basic log cabin block. This block is called Pineapple, and when laid out on the diagonal, it makes a dramatic pattern

Another variation is called Court House Steps.

I love learning about all of these traditional designs, and I like the idea of working some of that tradition into modern quilts – as long as I don’t have to be bound by rules. Seriously , that center square doesn't have to be red. It doesn't even have to be square. In fact, It’s unlikely that most would look at my wonky quilts and see the log cabin in them.

Lillie Mae Pettway, 1927-1990
"Housetop"--twelve-block "Half-Logcabin" variation
ca. 1965, cotton, wool corduroy, 77 x 65 inches. 

But I know it’s there. And I know that Lillie Mae Pettway’s Housetop quilt (a twelve block Half-log Cabin variation) was the quilt that started me on this path. 

Fabric Friday: Fabric Manufacturing Process

Modern Single Treadle Spinning Wheel
available from Heavenly Handspinning
on Etsy.com

I thought it might be interesting to cover the basics of how fabrics are made, and to introduce you to a couple of tools you can use to make your own. 
Fabric is commonly defined as cloth made up of fibers using one of three processes: weaving, knitting, or felting. Before the fibers can be woven or knitted, they must first be made into yarn (sometimes called thread in thinner yarns).

Large commercial spinning machines

Yarn made of natural fibers such as cotton, or wool is made into yarn by a process called spinning. Manufactured fibers such as nylon or polyester are generally converted into yarn by a process called melt spinning. Yarn can also be made by the division of a sheet of material such as metal foil (metallic thread), polymer film, or other material.

Large commercial Loom

Weaving is the process of interlacing threads of the weft and warp on a loom. The warp represents the lengthwise threads that are strung on the loom and the weft (also sometimes called woof or filling) makes up the horizontal threads, which cross the warp to make up the woven cloth.

Small loom available from
Plane 'n Grain on Etsy.com

Knit fabric consists of loops of yarn (called stitches) pulled through each other. Fabric created on knitting machines also use the terms warp and weft. A weft knit will have more stretch than a warp knit, but a warp knit will be less likely to run (when stitches come undone or unravel) if a thread is snagged.

Felt is a cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers and is a method of making fabric that pre-dates either weaving or knitting. Traditionally made of wool, today inexpensive felts are made with a minimum of 30% wool fibers combined with other synthetic fibers.

What these definitions ignore are fabrics without fibers, such as plastic films and foam, which are used for accessories, shower curtains, and in upholstery applications, or interfacings made with a non-woven process different from felt. These types of fabric have more industrial than home uses, but are used often enough for home sewers to be aware of them.

These definitions also do not address natural fabrics that have not been manufactured such as fur and leather. The manufacturing of fur clothing involves obtaining animal pelts where the hair is left on the animal's processed skin. In contrast, leather made from any animal hide involves removing the fur from the skin and using only the tanned skin. These fabrics have application to home sewing in both fashion and home décor.

Many fabrics made from natural fibers (wool, cotton or silk especially) have been imitated with synthetic fibers. A fabric will often be described as being made of one fiber or another. It is generally safe to assume that synthetic variations have also been produced. In some cases, the synthetic may yield desirable characteristics. In others, it may be a poor (but less expensive) substitute. The home sewer must consider the intended use for a fabric before deciding which to purchase.

Larkspur

I finally started cutting on a new quilt design today. This one has been a long time coming. About eighteen months ago I saw Alexander Henry's Larkspur collection in the indigo colorway and fell in love with it. I knew right away that I wanted to include it in a new quilt for our bedroom, but feared the flowers and scale might be a bit much for hubby. Those birds are about six inches long. I decided to only order a few yards of various prints in the collection, and to make up the rest of the quilt with solids and a modern design to keep it from looking too girly swirly.

I had this image in my head of the pretty prints suspended in space, all different sizes, kind of like those crazy room dividers we all loved so much in the sixties and seventies.

Sometime in the nineties my Mom asked me if I wanted that HUGE box of chains I had made by connecting soda can pull tabs. My idea, back in high school of course, had been to make a cool room divider out of them. But I digress.

I finally came up with a design that appeals and that isn't a nightmare to assemble. Just a bit over 400 non-moving parts! I was headed down the path of all blues and grays, but as I was auditioning fabric from my seemingly never-ending supply of Robert Kaufman Kona Solids (never-ending because I keep ordering more), I decided to add a few pops of "everglade", "coffee", and "honey" too. Sure hope the prints can pull together the disparate colors.

Here’s the first block! I’m hoping I can find the time to keep working on it and have the quilt top finished in a couple of weeks.

By then the ground will be warm enough to plant some real Larkspur [Delphinium L.] with seed sent to me from a favorite aunt’s garden. By summer there might be all kinds of larkspur blooming around here.