Cutwork and Twine Cutwork: Embroidery That Includes the Holes

Cutwork is embroidery that includes the holes.

That sounds flippant, but it is the exact definition and the thing that makes it unusual. In most embroidery you add thread to cloth. In cutwork, you remove cloth — portions of the fabric are cut away, and the raw edges of the resulting gaps are bound and reinforced with stitching so they do not fray. The pattern is made as much by absence as by thread. The holes are the design.

Done well, the effect sits somewhere between embroidery and lace: solid and open in the same breath, with light passing through the gaps. On a saree it reads as intricate, airy and unmistakably handworked, which is why the search for it keeps growing and why so little of what turns up is the real thing.

A craft that travelled a long way to get here

Cutwork is old, and it is not originally Indian. It began in Renaissance Italy — the 14th to 16th centuries — as a technique on cotton and linen, and it spread across Europe from there. Its most famous European form is broderie anglaise ("English embroidery"), the whitework of small round and oval eyelets bound with buttonhole stitch, in patterns of flowers and vines, that swept 19th-century England and became a signature of European whitework.

It reached India through colonial contact, and Indian artisans did what Indian artisans have always done with an imported idea: absorbed it and made it theirs. The result is Hakoba — the Indian adaptation of broderie anglaise. Hakoba keeps the eyelets but shifts the emphasis: the embroidery around the holes becomes more prominent than the holes themselves, and the vocabulary of motifs turns Indian. It is now a staple of Indian summer wear, most often in soft breathable cotton, precisely because an openwork fabric is a cool fabric in a hot climate.

So when you buy a "cutwork saree" today, you are buying a Renaissance Italian technique, filtered through English whitework, reinvented in India. Not many fabrics carry that much travel in them.

How it is actually made — and why it is slow

There are two sequences, and both are painstaking:

• Embroider, then cut. The design is stitched first, the outlines reinforced, and only then is the fabric inside the shapes cut away with fine scissors. Cut too early or too close and the whole piece is ruined.
• Punch, then finish. The holes are opened first with a stiletto, then bound with overcast or buttonhole stitch to lock the raw edges.

Either way, every single edge that will be cut has to be secured by hand, or the fabric unravels from the gap outward. There is no shortcut to that. It is why real cutwork is slow, why it costs what it costs, and why the cheap "cutwork" you see — where the effect is printed or laser-cut without any binding — falls apart at the first wash. The tell is the edge: on genuine cutwork the rim of every hole is stitched and clean; on the fake it is raw, glued, or heat-sealed and slightly melted.

Twine cutwork — the house specialty

This is the part we can speak about with some authority, because it is the thing we are known for.

Twine cutwork is cutwork worked with a twine detailing that gives the edges a raised, corded, three-dimensional quality — so the openwork is not just a flat cut-and-bind but has body and shadow to it. We work it over tussar, organza and silk grounds, and because tussar's dry, textured surface holds a stitch so well, the pairing is a natural one.

Each piece is made in limited counts — this is genuinely hand labour, not a production line — so a design in a particular colourway does not usually come back. That is not a marketing line; it is simply how work this slow gets made. If a twine cutwork saree speaks to you, it is close to one-of-one.

Cutwork on different grounds

• On tussar: our most characteristic. The matte, slubby silk gives the openwork a rustic, tactile, earthy quality — cutwork that looks handmade because it is.
• On organza: the most dramatic. Cutwork on an already-sheer ground creates layers of transparency — open shapes within a transparent cloth. An evening, occasion effect.
• On cotton (Hakoba): the most wearable. Breathable, light, perfect for a Kerala summer, and it dresses up a daytime look without any weight.
• On silk: the dressiest. Cutwork against silk's sheen reads as quietly luxurious.

When to wear it, and how to style it

Cutwork is dressy but not heavy — a useful register. A cutwork saree works for a daytime function, an engagement, a temple wedding, a festive lunch, and — on organza or silk — for evening occasions too. The openwork does the decorative work, so you do not need to pile more on top.

• Mind the transparency. Cutwork means gaps, and gaps mean skin. A well-considered petticoat and a properly fitted blouse are part of the outfit, not afterthoughts — particularly on sheer grounds.
• Let the work lead. A contrast blouse in a solid colour, pulled from the saree, lets the cutwork stay the centre of attention. Don't compete with it.
• Keep jewellery clean and simple. The saree already has texture and openwork; heavy, fussy jewellery muddies it.

Caring for cutwork — gently

Bound edges are strong, but they are still the most vulnerable part of the cloth.

• Dry clean the silk, tussar and organza pieces, and anything with dense twine work. This is the safe answer and, for good cutwork, the right one.
• Cotton Hakoba can be hand washed — cold water, mild detergent, no wringing, no brushing.
• Never wring or twist. Twisting drags on the cut edges and pops the binding stitches. Press the water out.
• Watch every edge for snags. A ring or a bangle catches in an open shape and pulls a bound edge loose. If a thread lifts, ease it back with a needle — do not cut it, or the hole will start to unravel from there.
• Dry in shade, iron on the reverse on low through a cloth, so the raised twine and bound edges are not crushed flat.
• Store folded gently or rolled, in cotton or muslin. Sharp folds across dense cutwork stress the stitching.

Where to look

Our Twine Cut Work collection is the one we are known for — cutwork and twine detailing over tussar, organza and silk, made in limited counts. Because cutwork sits so naturally on textured and sheer grounds, it is also worth browsing our tussar and organza sarees alongside it.

And if you are trying to tell genuine cutwork from a printed or laser-cut imitation: look at the edge of a hole. Bound and stitched is real; raw or melted is not. If you cannot tell from a photograph, ask us — we will show you the back, which is where the truth of any embroidery lives.