What I am going to write about today will probably surprise you. It is about a trend that I see bubbling up, which sprang forth fully-formed at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK.
It is Kantha Stitching!
(Originated as a form of hand-embroidery made by rural Indian women.)
It started, I think, with a growing fascination with Sashiko stitching, and contemporary explorations of hand embroidery stitching by Beaney and Littlejohn. Then another layer of expression was added with Mark Lipinski’s Slow Stitching movement. In fact there are so many layers in this evolution, please forgive me if I don’t/can’t list them all!
In the last several years, Kantha Stitching has been a “thing” in fashion and home dec. When I was in India, we were offered quilts with Kantha Stitching. Then I came home and started seeing $800 jackets cut and sewn from Kantha-stitched quilts (in Santa Fe), modern chairs upholstered in Kantha-stitched quilts, and Kantha-stitched scarves showing up in high-end and boho boutiques.
I saw a little bit at QuiltCon in February, but this explosion of this stitching technique in Birmingham was just remarkable! It is not just me identifying this technique as Kantha. The artists are also including “Kantha” in their artist statements…adding their own creative interpretations for this big-stitching trend.
So I came home and placed orders for lots of specialty big-stitch threads because I hear the rumbling on a distant horizon…this trend is so refreshing and FUN, and I know you’ll want to try adding some of this to your next project!
Photos show details of 4 quilts –
Clockwise from top left:
Lotus Pond 2 by SangSook Kim
Out to the Windy Beach by Sandra Newton
Rothko Kyoto by Joanne Johnson
Meditation by YoounKyung Kim
And so you ask, is there a machine-stitching trend that came out of this show? Yes! Watch for next week’s midweek Creative Nudge and I’ll show you what’s next in machine stitching!
Thursday I am flying to Rome, and Saturday I’ll be attending a private VIP opening for the United Nations/US Embassy-sponsored quilt exhibit of ‘Water is Life’. Part of this exhibit will be shown at the Houston Quilt Festival, but you can also check out the exhibit when it was at the United Nations in Geneva in March. It is an honor to participate in this important project – about our most precious resource.
Please join me Oct 6 for a Fundraiser event for the Dairy Barn!
Come for lunch, and for my “International Quilt Trends” power point, with photos of quilts from around the world. Can’t wait to see you!
(Space Limited – Register Soon!)
sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana
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2016 Travel Calendar:
Sept 3 – Water is Life – Embassy Reception – Frascati Rome
Sept 18-25 – CUBA Arts Tour #2 – Havana, Trinidad & Varadaro
Oct 6 – Dairy Barn – Athens OH – “Intl Quilt Trends” Lecture
Oct 29 – Nov 4 – Houston Quilt Market & Festival
Nov 11-13 – Color Marketing Group – Albuquerque
Nov 15-20 – Luana’s Polar Bear Tour – Churchill Canada
