A kantha quilt is a quilt made from old cloth, with the layers held together by rows of running stitch. Bengal is a region of eastern India and Bangladesh. Makers there have made them for centuries.
We make panels, not quilts. Even so, the quilts explain why our panels use the stitch they do. This post explains how makers make a kantha quilt. For the word itself and where it comes from, read What is kantha?
The kantha quilt
Wikipedia calls nakshi kantha “a type of embroidered quilt”. It calls it “a centuries-old Bengali art tradition” (Wikipedia, Nakshi kantha). It also says that “Kantha stitching is also used to make simple quilts” (Wikipedia, Kantha).
The Victoria and Albert Museum describes them as household textiles. It says they were “made out of old and worn out garments” (V&A).
The Philadelphia Museum of Art says kanthas “embody thrift, labor, and imagination”.
It says they served as “ritual seating, bedcovers, baby swaddling, and much more” (museum).
Materials
The cloth comes from the home. Asian Textile Studies says kantha began by “recycling items of old cotton clothing such as saris, lungis and dhotis” (source).
A sari is a long cloth that women in South Asia wrap around the body. A lungi and a dhoti are cloths wrapped around the waist.
Wikipedia gives a sense of the scale. “At least three to six sarees were needed to make a standard-sized kantha” (Wikipedia, Nakshi kantha).
The thread also came from old cloth. The V&A says the coloured embroidery thread “was drawn from the borders of the old garments”.
Making a kantha quilt
Asian Textile Studies describes the making in detail. The steps below follow that page.
- Layer the cloth. The base is “layers of old cloth, traditionally between five and seven”. Makers sew smaller pieces together first. The layers then reach the same size.
- Spread it on the ground. “Several women would work together to spread the layers of cloth on the ground” and smooth out the folds. There was no frame.
- Hold it flat. The layers were “weighted on each corner or fastened together with needles or thorns”. The edges were then folded in and sewn.
- Baste it. The page says “two or three rows of large stitches were made down the length of the layered cloths.” These rows also guided where the motifs went.
- Stitch it. The maker sewed with thread recovered from the borders of old saris, lungis and dhotis. The main motifs came first, then the corners, then the fillers.
- Fill the gaps. The maker “fills the empty spaces with kantha running stitch”. The rows of stitches leave ripples in the cloth.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art notes that nakshi kanthas are “often covered with rows of parallel white running stitches”. Wikipedia calls the running stitch “the main stitch”. It says people call it the “kantha stitch” (Wikipedia, Nakshi kantha).
The kinds of kantha
Not every kantha is a quilt for a bed. Asian Textile Studies lists many kinds, each with its own name and use:
- Lep: a large, thickly padded winter wrap.
- Sujni: a ceremonial spread.
- Bayton: a square wrapper for books and valuables.
- Ooar: a pillow cover.
- Rumal: a handkerchief-sized square.
The same page says kanthas also divide by design. Par tola kanthas are geometric, and nakshi kanthas show figures and scenes.
Wikipedia suggests the earliest kanthas were patchwork. It says “the earliest form of kantha was probably the patchwork kantha” (Wikipedia, Nakshi kantha). The page presents this as a likely view, not as a proven one.
Uses of a kantha quilt
The Asian Textile Studies page says the main use was as “light coverlets during the mild Bengali winters and breezy monsoon nights”. Makers also used them to wrap newborns. They also used them as floor covers for honoured guests and as prayer mats.
The Textile Research Centre in Leiden lists newer uses too, such as shawls, wall hangings and cushions (TRC Leiden). Wikipedia lists modern uses such as sarees, dupattas and shirts.
What we make instead
A Kantha panel is smaller and simpler than a kantha quilt. It has 35 squares, each cut 6 × 6 cm and showing 4 × 4 cm. A maker lays the squares on one backing cloth and stitches rows of running stitch through them.
That differs from five to seven layers of old saris. The panel is not a nakshi kantha. It shares two things with the quilts. Both rely on a running stitch, and both use cloth that someone already owned.
We also have not designed anything that grows into a full quilt. The studio plans one panel at a time. For how the panel goes together, read how Kantha works or the Help page.
If the idea appeals, makers in Fort Kochi stitch panels from tailors’ offcuts, as a case study of a stitching club shows. The manifesto explains why. For the difference between kantha, appliqué and patchwork, read What is appliqué?