Batik means painted or dotted in Javanese. The origins of this traditional Indonesian handicraft, which uses applications of wax to create patterns in dyed cloth, reach back more than 1,000 years.

One night in 2007, Kim Fraser, a sewing enthusiast and fabric lover, realized what was missing from her living room: curtains with big yellow polka dots. Instead of searching fabric stores for the ...

Anthropologie has used them to cover ottomans and to upholster chairs. Woolrich Woolen Mills turned them into short-sleeve button-ups, and Agnes B. used them to make a summer suit. Burberry Prorsum ...