A kantha-stitched book cover: completing a 2017 project for Make Nine 2025

It only took eight years, but I can finally call this small hand-crafted artist’s book “finished”! I’m counting it as fulfilling the second UFO prompt for Make Nine 2025. 

Artist’s book with a kantha stitched fabric cover.
Interior pages consist of various mark-making techniques and collage.

A book of mark-making 

This piece began as a mark-making exercise in a workshop with Dorothy Caldwell in the summer of 2017. The interior pages of this book are made of long, narrow strips of paper that were painted, inked, and collaged—experiments using different mark-making techniques and tools.

A page spread of the book.

Each page spread is a little world—layered with marks, pattern, shadow, and intuition. Some feel like meditative sketches with spontaneous marks. 

Another page spread with inked marks and collage.

The pages are folded into three signatures, sewn together with a woven binding. The book, when opened, can lie flat. 

Woven binding hold the three signatures together.

The kantha stitched cover

The cover was also a long narrow piece of black cotton fabric. The texture and hint of color is created by rows and rows of simple running stitches—the kantha embroidery technique we were learning in the workshop. I used embroidery floss, both single strand and multi-strand, and let the needle meander across the fabric. 

Kantha stitched cover.

The single strands of colored floss provide a subtle contrast to the black fabric base, and a soft, delicate complement to the more dominant, white stitching lines. This cover was stitched intentionally—not fast, not perfect, just by being present. 

Running stitches with colored and white embroidery floss.

Combining cover and signatures… just do it 

The stitched cover and the book pages lay together for years, knowing they were meant to go together. My dilemma, however, was how to attach the cover to the text pages. Make a wrap-around cover with a tie? A cover with a snap? or button closure? This was the step that stalled the completion of the book for so long. 

Returning home with energy and excitement from a recent quilting class at the Folk School, I had a burst of inspiration and immediacy to complete this UFO. The time had come to just “figure it out!” I decided to create a “book jacket” (of sorts) for the book. The two short ends of the cover were turned to the inside and stitched, creating pockets for the first and last pages of the book to slide into.

The ends of the cover folded over to create pockets for the book.

Front page inserted into the book jacket.

The kantha stitching was completed in 2017. The edges of this fabric piece, however, were stitched this month (August 2025) with a blanket stitch to enclose edges and minimize fraying.

The last page inserted into the book jacket.

The final result is a tactile skin for my little book of marks: a soft cover, richly textured with slow stitching, that wraps around pages already brimming with expression. The perfect complement! The imperfections of the stitching as well as the painted and drawn marks show the hand of the maker… from cover to cover. 

Finished artist’s book with a hand stitched cover.

Inserting the signatures into the pockets of the “book jacket” felt like the last step in the ceremony. After all this time, the project finally had its resolution. It was not just a collection of pages and fabric, but a completed book. A united entity unto itself.  

Creativity is not linear

There’s something deeply satisfying about finishing a long-dormant project. It reminds me that creativity isn’t linear—that even unfinished work holds value, and that returning to something old can still feel fresh and alive. It reminded me of the past experience when it was first created, but it also resonates with the present.

Make Nine 2025 UFO prompt fulfilled.

So here it is: another UFO prompt for Make Nine 2025 completed. Not late, just… right on time.

Make Nine 2025 tracker. August 2025.

Kantha embroidery | slow stitching

Kantha Embroidery. 

Running stitches. Colored threads. And two pieces of cloth.

Kantha embroidery.

This is one of the stitching exercies from Dorothy Caldwell's workshop.

Kantha embroidery on bleach discharged cotton.

The fabrics were discharged with bleach. The mark-making tool was a chunk of a pool noodle.

Kantha embroidery. Back side.

A buttonhole stitch finishes the edges.

Kantha embroidery piece, 15" x 4.5".

To me, the discharged images look like moons... or planets... out in space. Maybe this can be my piece to commemorate the 2017 solar eclipse.

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My current kantha piece is this Adornit ArtPlay Stitchery from the Calendar Girls collection. The traditional and kantha embroidery is done on a yarn-dyed cotton from Diamond Textiles (PRF-569). My plan is to fill the background with the Kantha stitching.

Kantha stitching surrounds a basic embroidery.

I so love the magic of slow stitching.

Kantha embroidery: a painterly solution for floss thrums

Have you ever saved bits and pieces of ____ (thread, fabric, paper... you fill in the blank) for an unknown reason because, in your heart of hearts, you knew their purpose would be revealed at some point in time?

Working from the thread bowl.

The time arrived for my collection of leftover embroidery floss. You know, the bird's nest of odd lengths of floss—sometimes 2, 3, or 4 four strands—and those random bits that are too short or not enough of a single color to use in a new piece? The solution to my collection of arbitrary embroidery floss has been revealed to me: kantha embroidery!

Kantha embroidery stitching.

Through a wonderful and inspiring Shakerag workshop called Human Marks: Drawing, Stitching, Batik, Bookmaking, with fiber artist and icon, the magical Dorothy Caldwell, I was recently exposed to the beauty and painterly qualities of kantha embroidery. Kantha is a hand stitching, mending process from India. It is kin to sashiko and boro. Kantha is used for the purpose of mending textiles to prolong their life and use, but it is also an expressive and decorative way of making marks and telling stories with thread and a running stitch.

Workshop attendees had the privilege of seeing several pieces of Dorothy's collection of kantha embroideries that she purchased during her time in India. The hand and energy of the maker is evident in the stitches.

The kantha running stitch shows the mark of the maker.

Dorothy explained that the women were very literal when choosing the designs that were drawn and then stitched on the pieces. The maker of the kantha quilt below depicted scenes from her visit to New York City. The twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Empire State building can be seen in her quilt.

The images in the quilts recount a visit to New York City. 

Similar to the American wholecloth quilts, the kantha embroideries in Dorothy's collection are done on large pieces of cloth—sometimes a white/natural color and sometimes black. Two pieces of cloth are stitched together. There is no batting or middle layer.

Kantha quilt.

The images are often outlined with a chain stitch for a bolder line. Small running stitches fill the shapes as well as the background. Small knots could be seen on the back (we had to ask about knots!) where the thread starts and stops occurred. The knots were neatly trimmed but makers did not seem concerned with them showing.

Knots and neatly clipped tails show on the back.

Dorothy demonstrated the chain stitch.

Dorothy Caldwell (right) demonstrates the hand stitches.

Workshop attendees displayed their kantha works-in-progress.

A board of kantha embroidery class projects.

We started with two strands of white embroidery floss to create the outlines of the shapes.

Running stitches: two strands of white embroidery floss on black cloth.

After I got into the rhythm of the running stitch, I began to add color—using single strands of floss. (This is when the lightbulb came on for me.)

Introducing colored floss to the kantha stitching.

I pulled strands from the floss bird's nest that resides in my sewing basket... or used the needles from the pin cushion that were already threaded with floss from previous projects. Threads of similar value but different hues began to fill the black canvas. The subtle color changes and the small stitches are reminiscent of brushstrokes of impressionist paintings.

Pre-threaded needles are a source for new stitching.

Now, I feed from a bowl of floss thrums that were accumulating in my sewing basket... and mix colors as if mixing paints on an artist's palette... a small amount of this color, a dab of that. The wait for a perfect stitching opportunity has ended. Kantha is the answer!

Stitching painterly marks with kantha embroidery.

Thank you, Dorothy Caldwell, for your inspiration, guidance and for graciously sharing your vast experience and knowledge with our class. And to my fellow classmates, thank you for sharing your amazing life stories and for the camaraderie and mutual encouragement.