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The Khowdi Project
Khowdis are quilts from North Karnataka that have a distinctive style of embroidery using running stitches. They were traditionally made to be used as bedding or a blanket. These were made for utilitarian purposes and passed down to the next generation within the family.
Women would embroider these quilts using old scrap fabric over months to pass down to their daughters. The fabric scraps are put together in no specific order making these quilts an amalgamation of color and texture - a mode of self expression through hand embroidery.
The intention with the Khowdi project was to use the skills of quilt making to create an additional livelihood for the women, a way to make products from the comfort of their homes with a larger goal of reinstating agency and financial independence.
The Intricacies and language of Khowdis
Top most layer - Fabric scraps
Middle layers - discarded polyester cloth
Back layer - A single layer usually an old saree/Lungi
The running stitches are embroidered in a clockwise direction and proceed from the outside of the quilt towards the inside in a concentric manner
Cotton coarse count yarn is used in the embroidery and patches are attached as they move inward towards the center of the quilt.
At every corner a backstitch is made to hold the patches in place and provide a stronger structure for the quilt.
The pattern created is called the Mooli that starts at the four different corners to meet at the center of the quilt.
Mooli stitch
Hanigi Mooli- Comb inspired pattern
Hanigi Mooli- Comb inspired pattern
Hakki kal patterns that are embroidered across the quilts.
Inspired by bird footprints
Thengin mara - coconut trees
Samay - inspired by lamps
Mutthin Teni - Inspired from Jowar
Smaller square bits of fabric are sown in
different patterns on the quilts inspired by
the skylights and windows
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