Kantha
Running-stitch embroidery of Bengal and Bangladesh, first made by stitching layers of old cloth together.
Also: kantha stitch, nakshi kantha
Kantha is a craft of Bengal, on both sides of the border in India and Bangladesh. In its first form, layers of old sarees and dhotis were laid together and held with rows of running stitch, making a soft quilt. The stitching grew into pictures of fish, flowers, boats and people, done with threads pulled from the borders of old cloth, and is called nakshi kantha when pictorial. Today kantha stitch is also worked on a single layer of silk or cotton to make sarees, where it gives a rippled, hand-stitched finish. Bolpur and Birbhum in West Bengal are known for kantha sarees.