Case study

Case study: a stitching club in Fort Kochi

The Stitching Club at aikyam space in Fort Kochi turns tailors' offcuts into hand-stitched panels. We follow its steps from offcuts to finished panels. Any group with cloth scraps can follow the same steps.

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Case study: a stitching club in Fort Kochi

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

About the club

The Stitching Club at aikyam space is in Fort Kochi, Kerala, India. It began in March 2026 with members mending their own clothes with supplies from home. Tote bags came next. The club’s first Kantha session took place in September 2026.

We tell the story as one example. Any group with scraps of cloth can follow the same steps. The dates come from the club’s own session notes, listed under Sources.

Makers sit on a workshop floor with squares of cloth spread out around them.
Squares of cloth spread out on the workshop floor.

Tailors’ offcuts come in

The club’s cloth is offcuts from local tailor shops and boutiques.

In April, a community member collected cloth from local tailor shops. That cloth would have gone to landfill.

Not all of it was good enough. In July the club found that many pieces were not suitable for making good-quality products. Members then visited more boutiques to look for better cloth.

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

Sorting and cutting

The makers sort the scraps by texture, weight and colour tone, so that each panel has a balance of colours. Straight cuts on light or stretchy cloth are hard, so the club plans to press scraps first.

Before they cut, they lay pieces out on paper. Small differences in shade change how a layout reads, and paper is the cheap place to find that out. Pairing dark and light shades helped balance a layout. They then group the pieces by colour palette.

The makers cut each square 6 × 6 cm, and 4 × 4 cm of it shows. The club tested this.

Cuts of 4 cm with no overlap frayed badly. Stiffening the cloth with paper made the needle hard to pull through. The club then moved to a 6 cm base with a 4 cm guide mark. The extra cloth overlaps, which gives the stitches room to anchor and stops the fraying. Pencil guide lines left marks, so a 4 cm wooden block now helps the makers place each square.

A maker works at a sewing machine. Squares of cloth lie on the table, and a phone shows a pattern.
A pattern on a phone, beside the squares it plans.

Designing in the studio

On 9 October 2026 the club first used the Kantha studio. In about three hours, the makers tested strip widths and colour orders on the screen. They then printed the designs on A4 paper. The screen gave a clear preview before anyone stitched.

A maker's hands guide strips of printed cloth, joined side by side, under a sewing machine beside a ruler.
Joining strips of cloth at a sewing machine.

Laying and stitching

The makers lay cloth over the printed sheet before they join it. This stops colours going in the wrong place and keeps the pieces in line. Some makers join strips of cloth cut 6 cm wide, side by side. In one four-hour session, five makers joined strips into three panels and added rows of running stitch.

To set a standard, the makers each tried a different stitch spacing and thread thickness, to compare side by side for neatness, stitch density and finish. In October they found even thread tension harder at thick seams, where pulling too tight gathers the cloth. Next time they plan to pin the strips before they join them.

The studio’s own steps are on the Help page.

A weaver's hand guiding cotton thread onto a bobbin.
Thread is guided onto a bobbin by hand.
A weaver at the charkha, winding yarn onto bobbins.
Winding yarn onto bobbins at the charkha.
A weaver working at a wooden handloom at Chengamanad.
A weaver at a wooden handloom in Chengamanad.
Four weavers of Chengamanad standing together in their Kasavu sarees.
Four of the weavers of Chengamanad.

The bag: thread, weave, stitch

The thread comes from mills in Nagercoil and Kannur. Weavers wind every strand by hand onto a bobbin, a small spool, using a charkha.

Next they starch the warp threads, the lengthwise threads. They pass the threads through heddles and reeds. These parts of the loom keep the threads in order. The weft, the crosswise thread, rides on a shuttle. It moves back and forth, worked by pedals.

Thirteen women of the Pattariyar community weave the cloth on wooden handlooms at Chengamanad Handloom, House of Kasavu. They carry on a tradition about 70 years old. They are among the last of their community to do so. Sheeja, one of the weavers, says: “We continue because we refuse to let go of the only art we know.”

The cloth then goes to the Stitching Club at aikyam space in Fort Kochi, where Mary Gracy teaches. Kantha panels are sewn onto this same handloom cloth.

To see the cloth made into a bag, read about the Constitution Tote in the Cats of Kochi shop.

Three makers in a garden hold cotton tote bags, each with a stitched patchwork panel on the front.
Finished panels on tote bags.

Finished panels

On 23 September 2026 the team finished its first full panel on a 4 cm grid. Each maker kept a portfolio file of finished trial designs. On 29 September the team put its earliest trials beside its newer work, and could see how much it had improved.

On 1 October the makers mounted finished pieces in wooden embroidery frames. They shared them with the rest of the unit. Two makers stood out for neat work, and the group agreed they would mentor the others.

Selling the panels

The Cats of Kochi shop is the only place that sells the club’s panels. The club makes nothing in advance, and it never makes a panel twice. When the cloth runs out, it cannot make that panel again.

Other groups

A club, a business or one maker can use the same steps. Choose the page that fits.

Sources

The club wrote up each session on the aikyam space website. These notes are the source for the dates and facts above.

Start with cloth already at home

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

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