A stitch in time can save our planet.

Chess01 / 11Every seam earns its keep, light against dark.01 / 11
Gradient02 / 11Pale at the top corner, falling to the darkest cloth.02 / 11
Centre03 / 11Dark heart, lightening out to the edge.03 / 11
Wave04 / 11Bands of tone on the diagonal, the bargello way.04 / 11
Border05 / 11Dark outer ring anchoring the panel.05 / 11
Cross06 / 11Dark diagonals, light in the triangles between.06 / 11
Spectrum07 / 11Cool on the left, running warm to the right.07 / 11
Mixed08 / 11No pattern, just nothing repeating or muddy.08 / 11
Blocks09 / 11Colour gathered where the cloth wants to cluster, seams still held apart.09 / 11
Ripple10 / 11The busiest cloth at the heart, plainer out to the edge.10 / 11
Heart11 / 11A red heart on the lightest cloth, every seam around it held apart.11 / 11

Five steps

  1. 1Cut and photograph your cloth squares.
  2. 2Pick a pattern.
  3. 3Print the sheet and lay the squares on it.
  4. 4Stitch the rows.
  5. 5Frame it or sew it on a bag.
Start designing

Free. No sign-in. No AI. Photos stay on the device.

The team behind Kantha

Five makers stand together in a garden, each holding a cotton tote bag with a stitched patchwork panel. The panels are purple, red and green squares, a green and cream chess pattern, and a pink design.
Jubina, Saneera, Nisha, Mary Gracy and Seenath of the Stitching Club at aikyam space, with Shabana, the club's facilitator. They tested every version of Kantha, shaped its features and co-designed its patterns.
Meet the team

From scraps to a panel

Scraps in a box become a panel, which is a picture made of cloth squares.

  1. 1

    Cut and photograph your cloth squares

    Cut cloth into 6 × 6 cm squares. Only 4 × 4 cm of each square shows, and the rest goes under the next square. Photograph each kind of cloth in daylight and say how many squares of it you have. Kantha measures the colour and keeps the cloth in a box on your phone or computer. A number under each cloth shows the squares that remain.

    The Cloth box tab shows a panel of coloured squares above a box called Sample and a row of cloth squares with numbers.
    Squares of cloth in many colours laid out in rows on a wooden floor, each marked by hand.
  2. 2

    Pick a pattern

    Choose one of 11 patterns. Kantha arranges your squares into a panel of 35 squares, 5 across and 7 down. Press the pattern again for a new arrangement.

    Kantha's Design tab showing the Chess pattern chosen. Below the panel are Chess, Gradient, Centre and Wave.
    Close-up of red, black, orange and printed squares joined by rows of orange running stitch.
  3. 3

    Print the sheet and lay the squares on it

    Press Share, then Print pattern PDF. Print it on A4 paper at 100%, also called actual size, so each square on the sheet is 4 cm. Lay a plain piece of cloth, a little bigger than the sheet, flat. Put the printed sheet on it. Then put each cloth square on its printed square, and the extra 2 cm goes under the next square. Along the outer edges, trim the squares at the printed line.

    Kantha's Preview tab showing the panel in a wooden frame, with Mount and Zoom controls. The Share button is at the top right.
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Down the first column, then down the next Each square laps over the one above and the one to its left Trim at the printed line
  4. 4

    Stitch the rows

    Sew rows of running stitch, which is the needle going in and out in a straight line. The stitches go through the squares, the paper and the plain cloth underneath, and the paper keeps every square in place. Tear the paper away when you have finished all the rows.

    Two hands sew rows of running stitch through squares of printed and plain cloth.
  5. 5

    Frame it or sew it on a bag

    Put the panel in a frame, or put it on a tote bag. The Preview tab shows both.

    A cotton tote bag with a green and cream chess panel of stitched squares on its front.
    A panel of coloured squares with rows of stitches, in a white mount on a wooden table.

Who it's for

  • On a workshop floor, makers lay coloured squares on sheets of paper.

    For NGOs and community groups

    A free web studio for groups that meet to make things. Members bring cloth scraps, the studio plans a panel, and the group prints it and stitches it by hand.

  • A plain cotton tote bag with a panel of coloured squares on its front.

    For upcycling businesses

    A small upcycling business can use the free Kantha studio to plan panels from offcuts, print a true-size sheet and repeat a design. It can then test a small batch.

  • Squares of plain and printed cloth in blue, orange, yellow and green, overlapping in rows on a white background.

    For hobby stitchers

    A free studio that arranges fabric scraps into a pattern, printed true to size for hand stitching. Everything a first project needs, and tips from a club.

  • A maker lays small squares of cloth in a pattern at a sewing table. Another maker sits at a machine behind.

    For tailors and boutiques

    Tailors and boutiques can sort their offcuts so makers can use them in the free Kantha studio. It keeps good cloth out of the bin.

  • Stacks of cut cloth squares in many colours, sorted by cloth and numbered in chalk, laid in rows on a wooden floor.

    For schools

    A free web studio for teachers. Pupils turn cloth scraps into a stitched panel and meet art, maths and reuse. No accounts, no ads, and photos stay on the device.

Makers sit working with cloth in a workshop with sewing machines.

Case study

Case study: a stitching club in Fort Kochi

The Stitching Club at aikyam space is a community group in Fort Kochi, Kerala, India. Its makers turn tailors' offcuts into panels. They stitch each panel by hand and plan it in Kantha.

Read more

A stitch in time can save our planet.

Read more

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Questions

Is Kantha really free?

Yes. The studio is free to use and works in a web browser on a phone or computer. It does not use accounts, sign-ins, ads or analytics. Its code is open source, on GitHub.

What cloth does it need?

Scraps of cotton or linen work best, plain or printed. Worn cloth is fine while it is still strong. Stretchy knit, sheer cloth and thick cloth are best left out.

How big do I cut the squares?

Cut every square 6 × 6 cm. Only the top-left 4 × 4 cm of each square shows on the panel. The next square covers the other 2 cm along the right and bottom edges.

How many squares make a panel?

One panel takes 35 squares. They do not have to be 35 different cloths. Squares can come from the same cloth. In the studio, you set how many you cut.

Can I try it before I cut any cloth?

Yes. The studio starts with a Sample box of real cloth. You can try a pattern before you photograph any cloth of your own.

How do I print the pattern at the right size?

Print the sheet on A4 paper at 100%, also called actual size. Each square on the sheet then measures 4 cm. Printing with fit to page shrinks the squares.

Do I need to sew by hand?

Yes. Makers stitch the panel by hand in running stitch, where the needle goes in and out along a straight line. The rows go through the square, the paper sheet and the backing cloth. Then the maker tears the paper away along the stitches.

Where do my photos and designs go?

Nowhere. Boxes, cloth photos and designs stay on the device. Kantha receives none of it. To move work to another device, the Menu saves a backup file that the other device opens.

Does Kantha use AI?

No. Kantha measures each cloth's colour from its photo and places the squares by fixed rules. The app sends nothing anywhere.

At a glance

  • Free, and it never asks for an account or a sign-in
  • Works in a web browser on a phone or computer
  • One panel of 35 squares, cut 6 × 6 cm, each showing 4 × 4 cm
  • 11 patterns
  • Prints on A4 at 100%, with each square measuring 4 cm
  • Cloth photos, boxes and designs stay on the device

Start with cloth already at home

A Sample box of real cloth is ready for anyone who wants to try it first.

Start designing

Free. No sign-in. No AI. Photos stay on the device.