Chapter 11: The No-Knot Technique

Working without knots is one of Kasuti's most distinctive technical requirements, and it is worth practising deliberately and separately from the four stitches themselves.

Starting a Thread

• Do not knot the thread end.
• Bring the needle up from the back a short distance ahead of where your first visible stitch will begin, leaving a tail of about 1–1.5 cm on the back.
• Work your first several stitches over this tail on the reverse side, effectively trapping and securing it under the new stitching as you go, so that it is invisibly anchored by the time you reach it.

Ending a Thread

• When 8–10 cm of thread remain, stop stitching forward.
• Turn the work over and weave the needle back through the last few stitches on the reverse side, following their path rather than piercing the fabric freely — craft-documentation sources describe securing over roughly 1–2 inches (2.5–5 cm) of prior stitching for a durable hold.
• Trim the tail close to the fabric once it is secure.

Joining a New Thread Mid-Motif

When a motif is too large to complete with a single length of thread, end the old thread and start the new one using the methods above, choosing a join point that falls within a stitch of the same colour and, where possible, at a point that will itself be covered by a subsequent pass (for example, partway along a Gavanti line that will be crossed by a later stitch). Working in clearly defined sections — rather than jumping thread across open background — also avoids visible thread "carrying" on the reverse, a common beginner mistake.