Making a motif smaller

Halving works only if every count is even. If some counts are odd, you have to simplify: drop a step from a gopura, make a curve one step shorter, leave out an inner line. Re-chart the small version by hand and check it still reads as the same motif from a distance.

Steps and curves

A curve in Kasuti is a staircase. A gentle curve has long treads and short risers (3 across, 1 up); a steep curve has short treads and long risers (1 across, 3 up). A circle is a run of steps that gets steeper, then gentler again. When you scale a curve, scale both the treads and the risers.

Charting your own motif

1. From an old piece: count its stitches square by square onto graph paper. Don’t trace the outline. Counting teaches you how it is built.
2. From a photo of a motif: print it, draw a grid over it, and decide for each square whether a line passes along it.
3. From your own drawing: draw lightly on graph paper, then turn every curve into steps that follow the grid lines.

Reading charts made for other crafts

Cross-stitch charts fill whole squares; Kasuti charts mostly use lines along the grid. A cross-stitch chart can still be turned into Kasuti: outline its shapes along the square edges in Gavanti, and use Menthe only for small filled areas.

• Work from a photocopy. Keep the original clean in a plastic sleeve.
• Tick as you go. Cross off each line on the photocopy when it is stitched. You never lose your place.
• Enlarge the photocopy. Copying at 150% makes small charts far easier on the eyes.
• Highlight every 10th line on your graph paper and tack the same lines on your cloth. Counting in tens is much easier.
• Use a magnetic board or a clip and ruler to sit under the line you are stitching.
• Turn the chart, not your head. Rotate the chart to match the way the cloth sits in your hoop.
• Use a mirror on the paper to check a mirrored half before you chart it.
• Write the size on every chart: width × height in squares, and the size on 14-count. You’ll know at once if it fits.
• Photograph your charts on your phone, so you can zoom in while you stitch and never lose one.
• Free charting software or a spreadsheet with square cells works like graph paper and mirrors at a click. Paper is still best for learning.
• Chart in pencil, finalise in pen. Ink only once you have stitched a test.

The motif comes out a different size than you planned.

1. Check your cloth’s count: hold a ruler on it and count the blocks (or thread pairs) in one inch.
2. Recalculate with the real count and decide whether to re-chart or change the cloth.
3. Prevention: measure the count of every new piece of cloth before you plan.

The motif is lopsided: one half is wider.

1. You miscounted one side. Count both halves from the centre column and unpick the wrong side.
2. Check whether the centre is a stitch (odd width) or a hole (even width).
3. Prevention: mark the centre column on the chart and the cloth before you start.

A scaled motif looks thin and weak.

1. Add a strand of thread.
2. Add an inner outline, or fill part of it with Neyge.
3. Prevention: test a few stitches at the new size on a scrap.

A reduced motif no longer looks like itself.

1. Leave out inner details and keep the outline.
2. Keep the shape that makes it recognisable: a gopura’s steps, a peacock’s tail.
3. Prevention: don’t shrink below about 15 squares wide for a large motif; choose a simpler one instead.

The mirrored half doesn’t meet in the middle.

1. You mirrored around the wrong line. Re-mark the centre line on the paper.
2. Re-chart the second half by counting from the centre line outwards.
3. Prevention: draw the mirror line in colour before you chart anything.

You lose your place on a big chart.

1. Go back to the nearest 10-line and count from there.
2. Tick off each finished line on the photocopy.
3. Prevention: keep a ruler or magnet strip under the current row.

The chart and the cloth disagree after a while.

1. On plain-weave cloth, threads vary in thickness. Count threads, not distance.
2. Re-count from the centre tacking line.
3. Prevention: tack guide lines every 10 counts on fine cloth.

• Mistake: starting at a corner of the chart instead of the centre.
• Mistake: scaling some counts and forgetting others, so diagonals change angle.
• Mistake: ignoring the key, and stitching a Menthe area in Gavanti.
• Myth: you can enlarge a motif by stitching longer stitches by eye. Fact: only counting keeps the shape.
• Myth: charts are a modern crutch. Fact: charts write down what experienced embroiderers carry in memory, and graph-paper planning is part of how Kasuti is taught today.

1. Read: stitch the deepa from Module 5, Motifs and their meanings, from its chart, starting at the centre.
2. Size it: work out the size of each of the four starter motifs on 14-count and 11-count Aida.
3. Scale: double the diamond buti on graph paper, then stitch both sizes side by side.
4. Mirror: chart half a gopura, mirror it, and stitch the whole.
5. Chart your own: turn a simple leaf drawing into a stepped chart and stitch it.

As a hobby: charting is a calm, satisfying puzzle on its own. Many embroiderers keep a chart notebook and fill it on train rides and in waiting rooms.

For earning: being able to scale a motif to a customer’s blouse back, or mirror a border to fit a dupatta, is what lets you take custom orders. A neat paper chart also shows the customer what they will get.

For teaching: scaling and mirroring are counting and symmetry exercises. They work well with children and with learners who can’t yet stitch neatly.

• Keep original charts flat in plastic sleeves in a folder, away from damp.
• Label each chart with its name, size in squares and the date.
• Keep the marked-up photocopy with the finished piece’s photo: it is a record of how you made it.
• When a piece is finished, pull out all centre and guide tacking threads gently before washing.

• Do you read the key before anything else?
• Can you work out the size of a motif on 14-count Aida from its count?
• Do you know how to double a motif without changing its shape?
• Can you mirror a motif along a diagonal (swap the counts)?
• Do you always start from the centre of the chart and the cloth?

• Count – one square on the chart; one block of Aida or 2 × 2 threads of plain cloth.
• Fabric count – how many counts fit in one inch (14-count, 11-count).
• Key – the list that explains each line, colour or symbol.
• Scaling – multiplying every count to resize a motif.
• Mirror line – the centre line a half is reflected across.
• Tread and riser – the flat and upright parts of a stepped curve.

• Chart symbols are not standard across books: always trust the key of the chart in front of you.
• Thread counts of handloom cloth vary along the piece; counts given here are examples.
• Source: D&D’s ebook Kasuti – The Complete Encyclopedia, chapters 8, 9, 13 and 14, with general counted-thread practice.