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!