MooshieStitch Monday: Kamal Kadai Stitch (2 color with pearl cotton)

Hello there! One of my favorite embroidery techniques is Kamal Kadai work.

My previous attempts at Kamal Kadai, I stitched flowers using 6 strand cotton floss. I was curious to see how different it would look with pearl cotton and using two colors.

To start, I referred to this photo tutorial.

I drew a 3.5 inch by 3.5 inch square with a water soluble pen onto my fabric.

Find the center of the square - draw lines and create 4 boxes within that square.

Then I made a mark every 1/4 inch - so there were 6 marks total between the middle box line and each corner ... hopefully that makes sense and the photo helps with the explanation!

Starting from the lower left square, bring your needle up from the top mark and stitch over the lowest mark on the upper right square (as seen above).

Continue by stitching from the next mark in the upper right square and stitch down to the next mark in the lower left square. Keep doing this back and forth until you finish stitching to each mark (as seen below). You will then want to couch down in the middle.

Now it is time to start weaving with your second color.

If you want to see a more detailed tutorial on how to weave - check out my first Kamal Kadai flower post for more step by step instructions.

Once you have weaved both squares, you will repeat the steps.

Stitch your lines and couch them down in the middle.

All finished weaving! Now my favorite part - removing the pens lines with water!

There you have it - two color pearl cotton Kamal Kadai stitch.

I really liked how this turned out. I think pearl cotton is much easier to use for this stitch than the cotton floss.

The two color effect is great for this stitch also - I now want to try it with other colors. Black and white would be cool or green and red for Christmas!

If you want to see my other version of the Kamal Kadai flower in cotton floss - check out this post!

See you next time!

MooshieStitch Monday: Kamal Kadai Stitch Flower - Another Version

Back in November when I stitched my first Kamal Kadai flower, I had also traced this pattern with the intention of stitching it right away. 

I kept procrastinating and the little traced flower sat there waiting to be stitched... until now!

(Link to pattern if you are interested - there are a couple patterns posted there)

For a more detailed tutorial on how to stitch - check out my previous post.

I followed the same technique to stitch this blue flower.

Now this pattern has an additional straight stitch on each petal - for a total of seven, instead of six.

Honestly, after I finished this first petal, I think that middle straight stitch was supposed to be the same length as the two stitches directly on each side. I did not know how to weave all the way to the tip of that stitch.

But, I kind of like how it turned out, because it gives the petal more of a pointed look.

All done with the petals.

 The stems/vines are stem stitch and the center of the flower are french knots.

Since I could still see some of my pattern lines, it was a good thing I traced it with a water soluble pen!

Here is my finished flower all cleaned up with the pattern lines gone. 

I thought I would share some links of other Kamal Kadai work I found while searching online:

• Beaded Kamal Kadai Tutorial  (I may have to try this sometime!)

• These beautiful Kamal Kadai flowers (using two colors for the petals)

• Here is another amazing Kamal Kadai stitch tutorial 

Sujani

Born in Delhi, India, Swati Kalsi studied fashion design at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, India. Since then she has developed her own fashion label and distinct style of embroidery design. Swati Kalsi's work highlights traditional Sujani embroidery which orignitates from Bihar in India. The designer works with local female artisans in Bihar to realise her elegant and modern embroidery designs.

Orignially this age old type of embroidery was applied to old sari fabric or any easily accessible cloth. The pieces of silk would be adorned in colourful embroideries using simple running stitch and chain stitch to illustrate typically distinctive motifs, often depicting the life story of the embroiderer. These embroideries were usually patched together to create family heirlooms such as a comforting quilt for a newborn. Sujani literally translates as 'facilitating or easy birth'.

Nature is a reoccurring theme in Swati Kalsi's designs: 'Rhythm and nature have always caught my eye and have gradually become my vocabulary for ornamentation.' The Anhad (boundless) collection is 'inspired by naturally occurring fractals. The embroidery spreads abstractly and seamlessly over the surface of the garments'. Through her approach to mark making a great beauty and cohesion is created.

Find out more about Sujani and Swati Kalsi's work here.

MooshieStitch Monday: Kamal Kadai Work Flower

I recently came across Kamal Kadai Work when searching for different types of needle weaving stitches. 

Kamal Kadai is an Indian embroidery style native to the state of Andhra Pradesh that primarily uses needle weaving to stitch beautiful flowers. There is definitely a specific style to the flower designs used in Kamal Kadai. The flower petals kind of look like they have "steps" or "levels" (for lack of better explanation).

After reviewing a couple blogs that had step by step tutorials (here and here),  I realized you basically follow the same process as the woven trellis stitch to stitch the flower petals.

Let's get started!

I traced the pattern (found here) with a water soluble pencil.

From the base of the first petal, straight stitch to each outer point.

As with the woven trellis stitch - you will want to switch to a blunt tapestry needle for the weaving.

Cut a piece of thread that is long enough to finish a whole petal. I used regular 6 strand DMC floss.

Come up through the fabric to the left of the first straight stitch. Weave your needle over that first stitch, then under the next stitch, over the following - repeating over and under until you get to the last stitch and pull the thread through.

Next weave back the other way- always weaving over that first straight stitch - and pull the thread through.

Repeat weaving back and forth - never pricking the fabric with your needle.

Here is the first petal woven up to that first "level" of the petal.

First petal complete.

Repeat the process for each petal.

To finish the flower, I filled the center with yellow french knots.

Stitches used for the stems and leaves: satin stitch, detached chain, and stem stitch.

Here is the final flower after rinsed and dried to remove the blue pen markings.

So, that is my interpretation of a Kamal Kadai flower, I hope I did it justice!

If anyone has additional information on the technique or has tried it before, please let me know. I would love to hear from you!


See you next time!