Kutchi embroidery comes from the Kutch region of Gujarat and has been made by hand for several centuries. Different artisan communities in the region developed their own stitching styles over generations, each with its own thread patterns, mirror work techniques, and design logic. The result is not one embroidery tradition but several, each tied to a specific community and way of life.
At Sugrii, we work with a range of these techniques: Katab embroidery, Kutchi mirror work, Rabari Sakedi embroidery, Trajko, Bawariya, Danu and Makhali. We use them in clothing designed for everyday wear, not just weddings or festivals.
This guide covers how each technique is made, where it comes from, what separates Rabari mirror work from Ahir mirror work, and how we think about bringing these stitches into modern fashion.
What Is Kutchi Embroidery and Where Does It Come From?
Kutchi embroidery is hand embroidery from the Kutch district of Gujarat. The region was historically a trading crossroads connecting Sindh, Central Asia, and parts of the Middle East, and different communities passing through brought their own stitching methods with them. Over time, those methods became rooted in specific communities and developed into the distinct styles we recognise today.
In most Kutchi artisan families, embroidery was learned at home. Girls picked up stitching techniques from their mothers and older relatives, starting early and building skill over years. Each artisan developed her own rhythm: her thread tension, her mirror placement, her sense of spacing. That is why two pieces made using the same stitch from the same community still look different from each other.
Machine embroidery cannot produce this. The variation is not a flaw in handmade Kutchi work. It is what the work is.
What Are the Different Types of Kutchi Embroidery Stitches?
Most people hear "Kutchi embroidery" and picture one style. In practice, the term covers several separate traditions, each developed by a different community in the Kutch region. Treating them as interchangeable misses the point of the craft. The main styles Sugrii works with:
Kutchi mirror work
Kutchi mirror work is dense, bold, and built around large and small mirrors. The thread colours are strong: red, orange, black, yellow. Designs pull from desert life, animals, and folk symbols. The stitching is thick and the overall composition is graphic rather than delicate.
The mirrors in Rabari work are large relative to other Kutchi styles. Each one is stitched individually into the fabric using surrounding thread frameworks, not glued. The mirror is structural to the design, not decorative filler. Kutchi mirror embroidery is used in jackets, bags, and fashion accessories.
Rabari Katab embroidery
Katab is an appliqué technique. Pieces of fabric are cut into shapes, stitched onto a base fabric, and then outlined with fine embroidery. The result has a layered, graphic quality that sits apart from threadwork-only styles. Patterns tend to be geometric or nature-inspired.
Rabari Katab works well in modern garment contexts because it creates strong visual panels without requiring the same density of threadwork as Bawariya stitching. We use it in jacket details,dress, and shirts panels.
Sakedi embroidery
Sakedidi is the chain stitch used in Kutchi embroidery. It forms a continuous loop of thread that builds into dense, rope-like lines. The result has a raised, tactile quality. Run your finger across Saankdi stitching and you feel it clearly. It is used to define motif edges, build flowing botanical patterns, and fill design areas with colour.
Trajko (Rabari community)
Trajko is a stitch used within the Rabari community, primarily around mirror placements. It involves interlocking thread patterns that create tight geometric fills. Trajko is fine detail work: it fills the space between mirrors and larger motifs, adding density and holding the composition together. The Rabari Trajko is tighter and more geometric than Trajko as used in other communities.
Bawariya embroidery
Bawariya uses satin-style thread fills and outline work to build solid motifs. Compositions are typically symmetrical: flowers, paisleys, geometric repeats. The visual quality is clean and graphic. It works well on garment panels and sleeve details where a bold, contained motif is the aim.
Danu and Makhali
Danu and Makhali are finer, more linear stitches used for outlining and detailing. They often appear alongside bolder techniques, adding definition to Katab appliqué edges or creating the fine inner lines within a Rabari mirror motif. The lines must stay consistent across large sections of fabric, which is harder than it sounds.
What Is the Difference Between Katab and Appliqué?
The two terms get used interchangeably in craft writing and on retail platforms. They are related but not the same thing.
Appliqué is a broad sewing method. One piece of fabric stitched onto another. It exists across dozens of textile traditions worldwide and has no fixed design logic, community origin, or stitching convention. It is a construction method, not a craft tradition.
Katab is specific. It comes from Kutch, Gujarat, and everything about how it is made is defined. Upcycle fabric are cut into thin geometric or nature-inspired shapes, placed onto a base fabric, and outlined with fine threadwork that locks each piece in place. The embroidery is not decorative finishing. It is structural to how the technique works.
The simplest way to tell them apart: appliqué is a method. Katab is a practice, with its own material logic, design vocabulary, and community roots.
At Sugrii, Katab was an easy choice. A technique that turns leftover fabric into the design itself fits naturally into how we think about making clothes worth keeping.
What Materials Are Used in Handmade Kutchi Embroidery?
Fabrics: Cotton is the most common base. It is durable, holds thread tension without distorting, and is practical to wear. Silk is used for finer pieces. Khadi, with its handspun texture, works well with embroidery styles that benefit from a rougher surface. In Katab embroidery, fabric offcuts and scraps are used directly to build motifs — waste material becoming the design itself. At Sugrii, fabric choice is decided alongside the embroidery technique, not after it.
Threads: Cotton thread, silk thread, and wool thread, chosen by stitch and intended texture. Silk thread has a slight sheen. Cotton thread is matte and long-lasting. Wool thread adds weight and appears in some Rabari work. Thread colour matters: Kutchi embroidery uses saturated, high-contrast colours as a deliberate part of its visual language.
Mirrors: The small round or square mirrors used in Kutchi embroidery are called abhla. Each one is stitched individually into the fabric using a surrounding thread structure. They are not adhered with glue or backing. The stitching itself holds them. In traditional Kutchi communities, mirrors were believed to reflect the evil eye and offer protection. They carry meaning beyond decoration.
Sugrii's handcrafted collection uses Katab embroidery, Kutchi mirror work, Rabari Sakedi embroidery, Trajko, Bawariya, Danu and Makhali in dresses, tops, jackets,trousers, and bags designed for everyday wear.
Kutchi embroidery has spent a long time being reserved for weddings and festivals. People see it, admire it, and then assume it belongs on an occasion outfit, not in a regular wardrobe. We think that is a problem worth working on.
At Sugrii, the embroidery is considered at the start of the design process, not added at the end. It influences where seams are placed, how fabric panels are cut, how a sleeve is constructed. The stitch informs the garment shape, not the other way around.
The approach to placement is deliberate:
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A shirt might carry Sakedi embroidery near the collar or cuffs only
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A jacket may use Rabari mirror work on two front panels, with the rest of the surface left plain
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A bag may use a single Katab appliqué section as its focal point
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A dress may use Makhali and Danu outlining rather than heavy fill stitching
The goal is a garment that can be worn to work, styled with jeans, or packed for a trip. The embroidery should be visible and present without making the piece feel unwearable outside one specific event.
We also spend time understanding the stitches from the maker's side before designing with them. Knowing how Saankdi builds a line, or how Trajko fills around a mirror, makes it easier to design in a way that works with the stitch rather than against it.
Why Is Handmade Kutchi Embroidery Still Relevant in 2026?
Clothing has become very easy to produce and very cheap to buy. That has made the opposite more noticeable: things made slowly, by hand, where the person making it had to make a decision at every step.
Kutchi embroidery carries that visibility. You can see the stitching. You can see where a mirror was placed and how it was secured. You can see the thread texture change slightly where one artisan's session ended and another began. None of that is present in machine-made embroidery, which is uniform by design.
For people who care about those details, they add up. Not because handmade is automatically better than machine-made in every context, but because for a garment you plan to wear for years and look at closely, the handwork is something you keep noticing.
Kutchi embroidery is still being made, still being adapted, and still finding new contexts in contemporary Indian fashion. The craft is not surviving in spite of modern fashion. Parts of it are doing well because of it.
If you want handmade Kutchi embroidery clothing that works beyond occasion wear, Sugrii's current collection is a good place to start. Each piece is made using traditional stitching techniques from Kutch in silhouettes built for everyday wear.