This book began with a question about income. It became a book about the place a woman is allowed to occupy in her own life.

In my research on Nakshi Kantha in Rajshahi, women spoke about earnings through the things those earnings made possible: groceries, a child's education, clothing, medicine. They also spoke about being consulted, being known for a skill, and feeling that something of value had come from their own hands. These were not separate subjects. They belonged to the same households and the same working days.

The interviews bring feeling and context to the figures. They show what a payment can mean, including the uncertainty around earning it. I have kept that connection close throughout the book.

Beyond the Stitches grows from my field research with women involved in Nakshi Kantha production in Rajshahi District. It brings together a survey of fifty women and ten semi-structured interviews. I have kept the evidence local and the claims proportionate to it. These women do not stand for every artisan in Bangladesh. Their experiences deserve attention without being made to carry that impossible burden.

The chapters that follow stay with the everyday consequences of the work. They move from cloth and care to the household economy, from earnings to decision-making, and from the dignity of a recognised skill to the physical effort and uncertainty that surround it. I have written about gains without giving them a happier ending than the evidence allows.

My hope is that the reader will finish the book with a different kind of attention. The completed kantha may still be the first thing we admire. The woman who made it should be the person we remember.