Stitch Club Kantha Quilt

When I saw a couple of months ago that Alison Glass' new Stitch Club involved making a Kantha quilt, I didn't have to be asked twice. When I participated in the original Stitch Club back in 2020, I learned enough to make a Kantha pillow, and thoroughly enjoyed the stitching. So I happily joined the Stitch Club 2022 Kantha Sew Along in the hopes of making a Kantha quilt, and now I can say I've done just that!

From the Stitch Club Journal: 

"Over time and in different regions the specifics of kantha varies and shifts. Originating in Bangladesh and some parts of India (referred to as Bengali since it is practiced throughout the wider area), it also often reuses cloth from saris or other clothing. It refers rather broadly to a both a traditional embroidery style and a specific stitch, basically an organic running stitch where the emphasis is not on perfection. The stitch creates a gorgeous and charming imperfect texture."

When I last shared about my Kantha progress, I had just finished the 128 rows of quilting. Though not a traditional step from what I understand, Alison suggested tying neighboring threads together for security. After tying, the pairs were trimmed and tucked between the quilt top and backing layers. Remember, a traditional Kantha contains no batting.

The final step, of course, was the hemming. I debated, but finally decided to match my thread to each section, and I'm very glad I did. What a unique look the hemming gives the finished quilt.

My Kantha finished at 52" x 70", and as you can imagine, without batting, the texture and weight is quite different from your average quilt. That said, it's really lovely and drapey, and I like the result a lot. Other than the initial rows of basting stitches, which had to be done at a table, and I found somewhat cumbersome to do, I really enjoyed the hours and hours of hand-stitching. I also appreciate having learned a bit more about the Kantha quilt-making process by making one for myself.

If you missed any of my previous posts about making my Kantha qult, they are linked here:

Fabric Pull + Quilt Top & Back

Basting & Stitching + Quilting

Linking up with Meadow Mist Designs' Favorite Finish Monthly Linkup for June!

Kantha Quilted

A couple of weeks ago, I shared progress on my Kantha quilt, and I'm happy to say that with quilting a row or few every evening since, my Kantha is now quilted!

As you can obviously see, the thread 'tails' are left hanging at both ends while the whole quilt is quilted. By the time I stitched all 128 rows of stitching, I had quite a mass of threads hanging off the ends! So now it's time to tie those all off and trim. 

Once I do that, I'll trim the backing to match the front, and it will be time for the final step in the Kantha quilt-making process - hemming the edges. So I hope to be back before toooo long with a finished quilt!

Kantha Progress

It's been a month or so since I shared about my Kantha quilt, still very much a work in progress. After creating the quilt top [53" x 72"] and a pieced backing, it was finally time to start the hand-stitching!

In preparation for that, we pin-basted the two layers together on a large table top. For me, that was our dining room table, which actually wasn't even large enough, so I carefully moved the quilt top around as needed. Just to remind you - there's no batting in a Kantha quilt! And where with normal pin-basting, you would pin every 6" or so all over the quilt, with the Kantha, we pinned much more minimally, as the 'real' basting was with needle and thread.

Yes, so we left our quilts on the table as we thread-basted every 6" across the quilt. And the great thing about that, even though it was a little akward stitching on the table, was that those lines would stay in the quilt, part of the overall hand-stitching. I chose to use coordinating threads in each section, so I was frequently switching colors. That whole 'basting' process took me several days, with plenty of breaks in-between stitching sessions.

A couple of other unique things about the Kantha process is one - each thread is the length of the quilt top with some extra for tying later at the ends. In my case, each thread is over 6' long! Starting in the middle of each row and stitching out toward the edges makes it totally doable, but it takes some getting used to. And second, the thread 'tails' are left hanging until further along in the process.

So, I'm making good progress, stitching a few rows almost every evening. Here's a veiw from the back side before I really started filling in the rows. Each row of fabric will eventually have five lines of stitching - so that's 128 for me by the time the quilt is done!

It's not the easiest to photograph so you can really see the overall scope of the project, but hopefully these shots give you a feel for it. I'm over half-way done with the stitching now, and it's just looking - and feeling - better and better as I add more lines of stitching.

Stitch Club Kantha Quilt Top + Back

Though we haven't begun 'quilting' our Kantha quilts yet in the Alison Glass Stitch Club 2022 Kantha Sew Along, we have begun some serious prep work. After choosing our fabrics, we went ahead and pieced our quilt tops. I went with the strip version, which obviously provides long lines to gauge our stitching off of.

AND we pieced our quilt backs. I didn't have any large pieces of Carolyn Friedlander fabrics to 'match' the front, but still am pretty happy with my pieced quilt back. Apparently, there is traditionally no batting used in a Kantha quilt, so that is interesting! I'm curious about how that all looks and feels.

I also chose some size 8 perle cotton that coordinated with the fabrics in my quilt top. In retrospect, maybe I should have chosen just one color to use throughout, but I can decide that for sure once I get started.

There is an optional addition to our Kantha quilts though, and that is the inclusion of some chain-stitching in the form of words on our quilt - top or back, either one, but I chose to add them to my quilt top. This isn't something I've done before, but why not?

Alison did provide an alphabet template, which I really like, all based on circles. Luckily, I saw Lisa/@intheboondocks post about how she was using a pressure-sensative film and her lightbox to trace her letters, and that seemed like a great idea to me! I had some Pellon Stick-N-Washaway on hand which worked similarly. It's also pressure-sensative and a water soluable product, so you write on it, peel and stick the light-weight film onto your fabric, and once it's embroidered on, you get it wet and it 'melts' away.

After my stitching was done, I trimmed away alot of the film around my letters, just so the washing was less messy.

Let's just say I'm really happy how my letters turned out!

The phrase I chose to include was 'one day at a time,' which is a phrase I've said often when folks have asked me what I have planned for my retirement. Plus it just seems like a good philosophy right now. Anyway, all my prep is done, and hopefully I'll be working on quilting my Kantha quilt later this week.

Stitch Club Kantha Sew-Along

I thoroughly enjoyed Stitch Club back in 2020, where one of the hand-stitching techniques we learned was Kantha. Then, I 'just' made a pillow, so I'm joining in the Stitch Club 2022 Kantha Sew Along in the hopes of making a Kantha quilt.

So yesterday, I pulled fabric - all #carolynfriedlander prints - for the upcoming Kantha Sew Along, which officially begins April 19. I plan to follow the vertical stripes layout (1 of 3 layouts suggested), and though the sample quilt used 63(!) fabrics, I've managed to gather 45, some generously gifted by @liveacolorfullife (thanks Cindy!).

So, I also need to have a 60" x 84" quilt back pieced before the sew along begins, as the front and back are stitched together right from the start! So I'll be working on that in the days ahead. If you're interested in joining the sew along, or at least reading about it, here's a link to the Kantha Sew Along.