$225 (includes $75 lab fee) class limit 16

September 12-13 (Wed-Thu) 10am–4pm
Maiwa East, 1310 Odlum Dr., Vancouver, Canada


The quilts of rural Bengal and Bangladesh are known as khetas. Made for one’s own use, they are both simple and robust. They are used daily, cycled and recycled, become frail with age, are mended and repaired, get thinner and thicker with time, and gradually take on the history of the users and their families. They not only have a life—they are life.

 In this workshop students will explore some of the design, dye, and stitch techniques that are traditionally used to make khetas. Students will learn the jod and bejod kheta stitch techniques that, when applied to layers of hand-spun, handwoven cotton create the dheu or “wave.” The stitch makes the surface of the textile undulate like flowing water.

 Students will prepare pieces for dyeing with nui shibori and folding. A vat will be prepared using natural indigo harvested and extracted by the Living Blue project. Recipes for the Living Blue natural vat will be given and explained.

 This workshop is a very limited opportunity to work with Anowarul Haq and Apurba Deb Roy who join us from Bangladesh. They will explain how simple techniques, when worked on cloth with personality and combined with indigo blue, can create exceptional works.