Chapter 10: Stitch-by-Stitch Instructions

This chapter gives detailed, step-by-step working instructions for each of the four stitches, meant to be read alongside the schematic diagrams in Chapter 6. Work all exercises on 14-count Aida with six-strand cotton thread (two strands) for your first attempts.

Working Gavanti (Double Running Stitch)

• Thread your needle and, without a knot, leave a short tail on the back of the fabric, held in place by your first few stitches (this is how Kasuti secures thread ends invisibly — see Chapter 11 for the full "no-knot" technique).

• Working left to right along your marked line, bring the needle up, count forward a fixed number of fabric threads or squares (commonly two), and take the needle down. Skip the same number of threads, and repeat, so you create a row of short, evenly spaced stitches with equal gaps between them.

• At the end of the line, turn and work back the way you came (right to left), placing a stitch in each of the gaps you skipped on the first pass.

• Check your work: on the front and the back, the line should now look like one continuous, unbroken row of stitches, with no visible gaps or knots.

Working Murgi (Zig-zag/Ladder Stitch)

• Mark two parallel guide rows on your fabric, a fixed number of threads apart.

• Starting on the lower row, bring the needle up, then take it down on the upper row a fixed number of threads to the right — this is your first diagonal stitch.

• Bring the needle back up on the lower row, offset further to the right, and repeat, building a zig-zag line between the two rows.

• At the end, work back along the same zig-zag path in the opposite diagonal direction, filling the gaps left by the first pass, exactly as in Gavanti.

• Check that the finished "ladder" has even, regular rungs and that the reverse side mirrors the front.

Working Negi (Darning/Weaving Stitch)

• Working in one direction only (no return pass is needed for Negi), bring the needle up and make a running stitch of a chosen length, then skip a gap, and repeat along the row.

• On the next row, offset your stitch and gap lengths from the row above — this offsetting is what creates the woven, brick-like texture Negi is known for.

• Continue row by row until the motif area is filled, varying stitch length as needed to follow the outline of a larger shape (for example, tapering stitch length toward the point of a leaf or petal).

• Remember: Negi is not reversible by design — do not expect (or aim for) a mirror image on the back.

Working Menthi (Cross Stitch)

• Working over a small counted square (commonly two threads by two threads, or a multiple of that for a bolder texture), bring the needle up at one corner and take it down at the diagonally opposite corner.

• Bring the needle up at an adjacent corner and take it down at the corner diagonally opposite that one, completing a small X shape.

• Repeat across the area to be filled, keeping every cross the same size and every top stitch crossing in the same direction, for a neat, uniform texture.

• Use Menthi sparingly relative to Gavanti and Murgi — its density makes it best suited to small fill areas rather than large motifs, both for visual balance and thread economy.

🖼️ IMAGE PLACEHOLDER — STITCH-SEQ-01 (photo series, 4 stitches × 3 steps) Type: Photograph series (12 images) or short instructional video stills Content: Step-by-step macro photographs of a hand working each of the four stitches, matching the instructions above — ideally shot top-down over the embroiderer's shoulder or from directly overhead with a phone-mount rig. Suggested size: 800 × 800 px per image Format: JPG (or MP4 if produced as short looped clips for the website) Caption: per-image, e.g. "Gavanti, step 2: the return pass fills the gaps." Alt text: per-image, describing the specific stitch and step.