The Joy of Kasuti

I was introduced to Kasuti by Jaya Hangal, who is also from Dharwad, the birth place of Kasuti. She gifted me a beautiful piece for a kurta. The level of detail that can be packed into a Kasuti design is truly remarkable. The intricacy, along with the choice of thread colors and, of course, the symmetry, makes this form of embroidery exquisite.

After being introduced to Kasuti by Jaya, I began looking for resources and came across the work of Sujaya Mahesh on Instagram. Her posts about workshops made me feel that Kasuti was something I could learn too.

Finally, yesterday, when everyone was busy playing Holi with gulal and water, I played Holi with threads and tried my hand at Kasuti. I simply could not stop! Time flowed quickly, like sand in an hourglass. It took me sometime to understand the reversibility of the designs, but I was soon able to see how the double running stitch works and then it was sheer joy.

Running stitch also happens to be my favorite stitch and in Kasuti it is used, in a manner of speaking, to connect the dots, well really, the dashes. What more could I ask for!