Our hand embroidered quilted bedspreads (coverlets) gives a new meaning to owning a coverlet. A must have indulgence; each one is first hand block printed and then sewn together with a cotton sheet backing using the basic running stitch.
The quilting is done exclusively by hand and each quilt takes an artisan a week to complete. The embroidery follows the contours of the block printed pattern thereby enhancing and accentuating it. The quilts do not have any cotton batting and will be light to medium weight.
Currently we make them in small quantities for only a few prints. But we are hoping to extend them to all our collections. We need to work on the process to make it scalable. There is no lack of romance in the process though.
Someone comes to our studio and picks up the order. He then travels to villages in the vicinity and gives them to groups of women artisans who then do the hand quilting. The quilting process is a communal activity – lots of chatting, laughter etc – and gets done when it gets done! Years ago, I remember asking them for an estimate and the simple answer was “it will be done once the women finish the quilting 
”. These days where time is of “utmost importance” and we need to “deliver against our commitments”, I have to say, this approach to planning is a welcome break.
Making the process scalable is simple – instead of sending the quilting work to 2 villages, we can send it to 10. However, ensuring consistency in the quilting is another matter. After all, if a customer is purchasing a coverlet based on the picture on the website, they are only justified in expecting to see the quilting as shown in the picture!
We have had a few challenges with this in the past. Every artisan doing the quilting has their own “style” and they like to make it known! However, we look forward to figuring this out in the days ahead and to bringing you this exquisite work in more of our prints.
Once quilting is done, the person will deliver them back to our studio, where they are then cleaned up and packed for final shipment. Hope you enjoy the below pictures.
Click here to see our collection of coverlets (we call them quilted bedspreads).
Would you like to see them made in any of our other prints? The Shop by Print section on the website has all our prints. We look forward to hearing from you – let us know by commenting below! Thank you
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I am going to India including Jaipur, next month and a visit to a block printing studio is one of our visits. Thank you for the information.
Dear Leslie, Bon Voyage! It’s magical how the hand blocked prints come together. If you would like to share pictures from your trip on our blog, I will be happy to work with you on getting the post together!