More Kantha Products on Their Way!

Kantha

May 4

Once again, I am happily picking sari combinations for a range of fresh Kantha products by Tripty Boutique! I think it’s my favourite part of the production process. This time round, I asked Tripty for more blue and turquoise. I am very much looking forward to seeing the actual scarves, baby blankets and placemats, which are presently being hand-stitched. We are trying to speed up the turnaround a bit, so that there will be new products more often.

On the sales front, things are still a bit sluggish. After receiving my last order at the end of August, it took me quite a bit of time to go over each and every item, looking for all sorts of snags that needed taking care of, sometimes spending hours tucking threads away and getting the products up to my level of perfection (which, I admit, is more of a nuisance than actually helping me in making more sales). But I do feel that I’d rather make a few sales less, but have happy clients that may come back for another product. For Tripty and her women, I provide extensive feedback on everything that needs to be improved for the next round of orders, so it is a learning process for all of us. I would like to thank all clients who have become faithful customers and are continuing to support Tripty Boutique and FairlyWorn.

I still do end up with quite a few products that I cannot sell as they are. It is not an easy feat to stitch a quilt, even though the straight stitching rows might cause the observer to believe that Kantha quilting is peanuts compared to other types of quilting or stitching. But let me tell you - it is quite difficult to get the saris layered without wrinkles, those rows lined up nice and parallel, and all the yarn ends tucked away neatly. The bigger the Kantha quilt, the more challenging it gets.

So what do I do with the products I cannot sell? I cut them up and create other products that will cleverly conceal the imperfections! Very practically, Kantha quilts have two different sides. Chances are that if one side does not look as desired, the other one is perfectly adequate to feature as a cushion cover or a textile planter! There is always a way to work around parts of the quilt that are less attractive. I try to minimise the amount of fabric I have to discard as much as possible - I sell a lot of Kantha scrap bundles, which are probably my most sold item in my etsy shop! The smallest scraps I use to create lavender sachets and cards that added to all my orders.