100+ Fashion Students in Haryana Turn Fabric Waste Into Art Without Using a Single Needle or Thread

More than 100 first-year Fashion Design students at Budha College in Karnal created individual artworks from discarded fabric. Their designs included flowers, landscapes, animals, abstract patterns, and a Geisha holding a lantern. The unusual feature was that they used no needles or thread.

The students first planned their colours, textures, and patterns. They sketched their ideas on thermocol sheets, cut grooves along the outlines, and fitted fabric scraps into those grooves. Each piece was trimmed and pressed into place, allowing small scraps to form detailed images.

The seven-hour exercise turned leftover campus fabric into original art while applying classroom learning. Teachers Harshita Singh and Komal guided the activity. The assignment helped students experiment with materials, practise patience, and see how discarded fabric could gain a new purpose through design.

Kinusaiga is a Japanese art form that uses fabric scraps to create pictures without sewing them together. It matters here because it gives leftover material a creative purpose while helping students explore design, colour, and texture. The technique also lets artists build detailed images from small pieces.

The students first sketched designs on thermocol sheets. They then cut narrow grooves along the drawn outlines. Fabric scraps were selected, trimmed to fit, and pressed into those grooves. A scrap could become a flower petal, while carefully placed pieces formed the sleeve of a Geisha holding a lantern.

At Budha College, kinusaiga became a practical fashion-design exercise. More than 100 students worked for seven hours on flowers, landscapes, animals, and abstract patterns. Their finished pieces showed how fabric can be reused creatively without needles, thread, or stitching.

More than 100 first-year Fashion Design students at Budha College in Karnal took part in the activity. The scale made it a large classroom exercise rather than a small demonstration. Students worked individually, making designs shaped by their own choices of colour, pattern, and subject.

The students spent seven hours turning discarded fabric into artworks. They began by studying colour combinations, textures, and patterns. After sketching on thermocol, they cut grooves along their designs and fitted fabric scraps into the lines. The process required repeated trimming, testing, and adjustment around curves and corners.

The extended activity gave students time to learn an unfamiliar technique through practice. Some found the method difficult at first, including Laxmi from Odisha, but said it became easier and more enjoyable. By the end, the class had completed original pieces without using stitches.

The students transformed simple materials through a careful sequence of design decisions. They first explored colour theory, comparing shades, textures, and patterns. This helped them decide what they wanted to create and which discarded fabrics would best express each part of the image.

Next, they sketched their designs onto thermocol sheets and cut grooves along the outlines. They sorted through fabric collected on campus, selected suitable scraps, and cut each one to size. The pieces were then pressed into the grooves. Careful fitting around curves and corners made the designs look neat and detailed.

This method allowed small fabric pieces to represent specific visual elements. A scrap could become a flower petal, while several fitted pieces formed a Geisha’s sleeve and lantern design. The students’ artworks showed how planning, precise cutting, and patient adjustments can turn leftovers into finished pictures.

The exercise helped students practise several core fashion-design skills at once. They studied colour theory before beginning, considering which shades, textures, and patterns worked well together. This encouraged them to make deliberate visual choices rather than selecting fabric randomly.

They also developed material-selection and detail skills. Students searched discarded campus fabric for pieces suited to their designs, then cut each scrap to fit a particular space. Pressing fabric into narrow grooves required control, especially around curves and corners. Small adjustments could change a pattern or improve the neatness of the final piece.

The activity strengthened patience, experimentation, and creative problem-solving. Faculty member Harshita Singh said the aim was to help students apply classroom concepts while exploring their own ideas. The assignment connected practical making with colour, texture, design planning, and the persistence needed for intricate work.

Videos of the students’ finished artworks travelled far beyond the Budha College classroom. Reels featuring their creations crossed 3.5 million views on Instagram. This gave first-year students an unexpected public audience for work originally made as a classroom assignment.

The videos showed the results of their seven-hour exercise with fabric scraps and thermocol. Students had created flowers, landscapes, animals, abstract patterns, and other designs through kinusaiga. Their work demonstrated how careful colour choices, textures, and fitted scraps could produce detailed images without stitching.

The online attention did not turn the activity into a commercial project. The artworks were not for sale and were not connected to a commercial venture or social cause. Instead, the Instagram response gave students a wider opportunity to share their creativity while reinforcing the value of practical, hands-on learning.

Reusing discarded fabric can give leftover material a new purpose. In this activity, scraps that might otherwise have been thrown away became colourful artworks. The process also encouraged students to think carefully about materials, experiment creatively, and connect practical making with fashion-design skills.

Textile waste means unwanted, leftover, or discarded materials made from textiles, such as fabric scraps and unused pieces. The source does not provide a formal definition, but it describes fabric collected on campus as discarded material. Students selected these pieces, trimmed them, and fitted them into thermocol designs.

The exercise shows one small, practical way to reuse textile material. It was not a commercial venture or social cause, and the artworks were not for sale. Its main purpose was learning a new technique, testing materials, and understanding how fabric could be reused creatively in future design work.