A stitch in time
The saying is about mending early, before a small tear becomes a large one. We mean it a little differently. Cloth is best mended before we throw it away.
What we believe
- We keep good cloth in use. A shirt wears out in one place. A tailor leaves offcuts on the floor. The cloth is still good. Kantha asks for scraps, not new fabric, anywhere in the world.
- We work in the open. The studio’s code is on GitHub (opens in a new tab) under Apache-2.0 (opens in a new tab). Many of its pictures are under CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab). Anyone may use, change and share them under those licences. Our licence notes (opens in a new tab) say what each covers and how to credit it.
- We share warmly and freely. The studio is free and needs no account. It keeps every photo on the person’s own device. The patterns and the method are for anyone to pass on.
- We put people before technology. The point is people making things together and earning from their work. The app is only a tool. Today’s example is the Stitching Club at aikyam space in Fort Kochi.
- We aim to pay our way, not to make a profit. We do not run Kantha to make a profit. We aim to pay our own way, so that Kantha can keep going.
What one person can do
One panel will not change the world’s cloth waste. A box of scraps and an afternoon will keep a small amount of good cloth out of the bin. That cloth gains a use and a maker.
That is the whole claim. We hope many people make it.
Start with a box of scraps. See how the Stitching Club works.
