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.

4th Make Nine finish: Kantha zipper bag

I'm crossing off one UFO prompt for my fourth Make Nine 2022 finish! This kantha stitched Flag Girl, my 4th make, was completed on the 4th of July (very apropos, I'd say).

Flag Girl kantha stitched zipper bag.

One side of the bag has an embroidered motif of a girl holding an American flag. The background is  kantha stitched with thrums of embroidery floss (above). The patchwork side of the bag (below) is improvisationally pieced with leftover fabric bits from a set of projects featuring the Meriwether fabric collection from Art Gallery Fabrics.

Patchwork side of zipper bag.

Details and features of the bag

I've been doing a lot of slow stitching these days—this patchwork piece included. This side of the bag features embroidery stitches, appliqué, and quilting—all by hand.

Embroidered stitch motifs with embroidery floss and a flower appliqué.

Quilting around the rabbit and embroidery stitches.

Here is a close-up of the kantha stitching using single strands of embroidery floss.

Detail of kantha stitching.

An inside pocket was sewn in place by hand before the two bag pieces were sewn together.

Inside pocket of the zipper bag.

There is an in-seam tab on the side of the bag, and the final detail is the ring through the zipper pull.

Zipper ring and fabric tab details.

This is a "sister bag" to the first zipper bag I made in 2020 that was a Make Nine project for that year.

Kantha stitching and hand embroidery on two zipper bags.

4 for 9 for Make Nine 2022

With half of 2022 in the rearview mirror, I've answered 4 of my 9 prompts in this year's Make Nine Challenge. 

Make Nine Challenge 2022, July update. 

Kantha stitched zipper bag, Make Nine finish

Checking this UFO off the list! 

One of my Make Nine 2020 goals was to complete a UFO [unfinished object]... I had many to choose from, to be sure. Since the soothing, repetitive nature of hand stitching has become a mental salvation from the news grind about Covid-19, this kantha stitching project was easily revived from the UFO pile. 

So this is my seventh Make Nine 2020 UFO finish—a kantha and decorative stitched zipper bag.

Kantha and hand stitching zipper bag.

Kantha stitching and hand embroidery

This piece was started sometime in 2018 with the hand embroidered Sunshine Girl. My fabric of choice for hand stitching is a yarn-dyed woven from Diamond Textiles. Over the span of 2+ years, the kantha stitching slowly filled the background areas, using up random, single strands of colored embroidery floss. The needle effortlessly glided through this yarn-dyed fabric to create lines of multi-colored dashes and texture.

Filling the background with kantha hand stitching.

When Little Miss Sunshine was finally completed, I wasn't sure what to do with her... a pillow? a small table topper? a wall hanging?

Better yet, something more functional... for every day use: a zippered project bag. 

Complementing hand stitching with decorative machine stitching

Now, the Little Miss Sunshine bag needed a second side. For this, I took quilt blocks from last year's 100 Days 100 Blocks project and patchwork bits made with Diamond Textile's yarn-dyes and pieced them together. This patchwork was thread embellished by machine with 12 wt Spagetti thread from WonderFil Threads and the built-in decorative stitches on my sewing machine. It was fun to experiment with the decorative stitch patterns!

Auditioning decorative stitches and thread colors.

The pieces were then ready for bag assembly...

Pieces ready for bag assembly.

Inside lining with pockets

Pockets were included in the lining (a floral print from the Charleston collection from Art Gallery Fabrics)—with a 3-step zigzag stitch to coincide with the outside.

Pockets with decorative stitching in the bag's lining.

Zipper installation

The instructions from Sam Hunter's Chunky Wee Zippy Pouch pattern and a zipper pouch tutorial from Noodlehead helped with the zipper installation. 

12 wt Spagetti thread [WonderFil Threads] for decorative stitching.

The finished bag is approximately 12.5" x 13" and has a boxed bottom. 

Zipper bag: Kantha hand stitched side.

It's currently holding my English paper piecing hexagon project. 

Zipper bag: Machine pieced side with decorative machine stitching.

A completed UFO for a WIP [work in progress].

Check one more item off the (loooong) UFO list.

Stitching Success Tracker status and kantha revisited

Half of 2020 is behind us. (not sure if this is a relief?... or not)

Either way, I'm sure many of you quilters, stitchers and makers have immersed yourselves in fabric, thread and stitch activities to soothe the mind and soul during the turbulent, on-going, coronavirus attack. 

2020 stitching calendar. Six month status.

This is my stitching success tracker for the first 6 months of 2020—color coded by stitching activity. The turquoise areas are my Make Nine 2020 finishes.

A revisit to kantha slow stitching

Yesterday, I posted a picture of my kantha stitched Flag Girl in honor of Independence Day. 

Flag Girl. Kantha stitching and hand embroidery.

This prompted a revisit to a nearly-complete Sunshine Girl kantha stitching project that was started about 2-3 years ago. While watching the Hamilton musical on TV with my husband yesterday, I enjoyed a couple hours of relaxing kantha hand stitching on this piece.

Sunshine Girl hand stitching project (detail).

The stitching part of this project is almost complete... just the upper corner areas remain unfinished. I do love hand stitching with yarn-dyed wovens from Diamond Textiles.

Sunshine Girl hand stitching project (full).

Squirrel...

I guess this is why my Stitching Success Tracker is so colorful. I bounce between several "types" of machine and hand needlework... and between new projects and a multitude of WIPs [works in progress]. 

I think each one feeds a specific need.

My Stitching Success Tracker color legend.

Mending vs embroidery, or embroidery as mending?

Mending and kantha embroidery stitching.

While growing up, the summer was the time when us kids (my brother, cousins and I) visited my grandparents at their summer home in Wisconsin. I remember that grandma always had a small pile of items that needed mending... grandpa's shirt with a missing button, a sock with a hole, a worn or torn place on a shirt sleeve or cuff. I think this mending pile, the associated sewing tools, and watching Gram sew replacement buttons on various garments are among my first love encounters with sewing and textiles. Although she had an electric Singer sewing machine, Gram repaired these things by hand with needle and thread.

We live in such a disposable society these days. If it's broke/torn/has-a-hole or other minor defect, it often gets pitched and a new replacement is purchased. As I learn more about kantha, boro and other time-honored mending and stitching techniques, I've begun to look for creative mending and recycling opportunities.

As well as being a "saver"—from buttons to cardboard boxes, plastic containers and lard for making soap—Gram was a mender. So, I channeled Gram this weekend as I mended a knit top whose hem had come loose.

As I was looking for a small hand sewing needle for this task, I decided it was a good time to organize my Needle Index and purge the pincushions of the useless pins and needles—the bent ones, the dull ones, the ones with burrs, etc.

Bent pins and dull needles go into a small plastic medicine bottle.

After organizing my (vast) assortment of hand sewing needles, I took some of the pre-threaded ones and added more lines of stitching to another kantha embroidery project from Dorothy Caldwell's workshop.

Kantha embroidery.

I admit, I am thoroughly enjoying the simple beauty of the running stitch and the rhythm of the kantha mending/embroidery process. Even though it was probably considered "housework," I suspect Gram found the same quiet and relaxation in doing her mending by hand, too.  <3 

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.