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Kasuti embroidery is originated from Karnataka In India, which is a traditional form of folk embroidery. During talk with our team, some experienced stitchers told us that kasuri embroidery is a counted-thread technique that is closely related to blackwork.
The beautiful motifs use only a few simple stitches, but the results are stunning, creating detailed borders and intricate designs. There is no possible way to trace and implant the design prematurely through outlines. The best part of kasuri embroidery is, it’s unique counting the thread process and reversibility.
Kasuti embroidery is originated approximately before 1300 years ago, back during period of Chalukya in Karnataka, India. The name Kasuti itself possess the meaning of craft as kai means ‘hand’ and Suti means ‘cotton thread’ which indicates the work done by use of hand and cotton thread. Kasuti is one of 64 arts what women courtiers in the Mysore Kingdom expected to be adapt in 17th century.
Kasuti is a folk design influenced by rangoli patterns and flowers. For occasional clothing stitchers use mirror, with gold and silver thread embroidery. Chandrakali saree which possess heavy work of kasuri stitches is mostly seen in Karnataki wedding and has a premier importance.
Kasuti work involves embroidering very intricate patterns like chariot, palanquin, motifs of gopurams of temples, lamps and conch shells. The work is very hard as stitchers need to count each thread on the cloth to make the design look even and they ensure the both side of the cloth look alike. First of all, the stitchers need to draw the pattern with charcoal or pencil which is to be embroidered and then needles of proper size and thread of requisite thickness are selected. Types of stitches are Ganti (double running stitch used for marking vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines), Murgi (zig-zag stitch), Neyge (running stitch), Menthe (cross stitch resembling fenugreek seeds).
The most frequently used colors are red, purple, green, pink, crimson and orange. Some religious motifs are the Gopurams of temples, the chariot and palanquin in which the deity is carried on ceremonial occasions, the lotus, the tuisi katti which is the enclosure for the sacred tulsi plant. Elephants, horses, peacocks with spread plumage, birds of different kinds, animals and flowers are standard motifs. The cradle, anklet-bells, palanquins and other articles of everyday use are artistically depicted. The material on which the embroidery is executed is a hand-woven cloth of dark colour, usually black.
Kasuti embroidery has gone beyond its traditional boundaries and today you can see kasuti embroidery works in other dress materials, even western clothing also. Other advanced workers who had learned the techniques are selling their form of kasuti embroidery (a blend with modern clothing).
But the price that original village traditional workers are getting, is no way near to the selling price that the vendor selling in the marker. But today, due to wide use of e-commerce platforms and specialized platforms like Spenowr, hundreds of kasuti embroidery stitchers are registering, selling and getting the price what they have compromised for a long time.
