11/1/08 - 12/1/08

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22.11.08

The Art of Mola Making


Cuna indian girls wearing molas stitched to their blouses which were made by their mothers.


One of the most interesting textile art forms I have ever scene is the art of mola making traditionally done by the Cuna indians of San Blas Islands, Panama. My mother brought one home after visiting Panama and I just knew I had to try to make one some day. I was amazed to realize that the designs on her 'picture' were done by reverse applique but with many layers of different colored cloth and in pencil thin lines. It was a beautiful piece of stitching and art.

Click on the following link to see a wonderful web page on Molas and the beautiful Indian women who make them. It is a great page for kids! It has intriguing native music playing in the background as well. http://charlottepatera.com/html/MAKE%20A%20MOLA/makeamola.html
In America, we do a very simple form of reverse applique using only two pieces of cloth. We cut away the shapes we want to reveal from the top layer of cloth to show a color below and then stitch the raw edges of the top layer down to the bottom layer. This technique is used for flowers, leaves, or even animal shapes. But never do we attempt such intricate lines or so many layers of cloth.


There is very little information available on how to do this, but as you can see from this picture, I am attempting a practice piece. I also bought a book from Dover publishing that has many authentic Mola indian designs that I may try to use for a piece for next year's art festival. It is much harder to do than it looks but it is really fun to try!

This is my second attempt. The cloth on my first mola was too thick allow me to do a good job on the applique stitches. In this mola, my lines are still wide. The pieces of cloth layered beneath the top layer of black cloth were not even, which is why the blue shows through the fish at the bottom. In the photo, you can see at the top that I have just cut slits to reveal blue for radiating lines. I used a white chalk marking pencil to draw the main designs and to plan out where I was going to cut. I'm mostly designing as I go.

Molas were made by the Kona indian women of Panama to replace body painting. A woman sews two identical pieces, one for the front of her blouse or dress and one for the back. She wears the dress with the mola until the dress is worn and/or faded and then rips the mola off and sews it onto another dress until she is tired of it. Then she rips it off again and sells it to local tradesmen who sell it to tourists. The average cost you will pay to buy one is around $75 to upwards of $200.00. If the mola doesn't have torn threads on the edges, or isn't a little worn or faded, it probably isn't authentic. The tourist versions are often made by machine and are not very well done. The artwork is also not usually traditional.

The most authentic mola designs are geometric. More contemporary ones incorporate more modern imagery. You will often see flowers, fish, birds, and other jungle animals. You will sometimes see Christian imagery from missionary influence. Some molas have indian spirit symbolism in them, if they are for religious purposes.

To learn more about this art see the rest of the links below.
  • Kuna Indian women and their art - http://www.panart.com/molainfo.htm
  • Mola Art Gallery - http://thorup.com/mola.html
  • How Molas are made - http://thorup.com/makeamola.html
  • Detailed instructions on how to make a simple Bug Mola. (Very Good!) http://charlottepatera.com/html/MAKE%20A%20MOLA/makeamola.html
  • Kid's Construction Paper Mola project- http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/2008/08/how-to-make-mola.html
  • Link to a great book -Molas!: Patterns, Techniques & Projects for Colorful Applique (Paperback-Buy used for less than $5.00)http://www.amazon.com/Molas-Patterns-Techniques-Projects-Colorful/dp/1579902235/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227384982&sr=1-3

How to Make a Kuna Indian Mola




One of the most interesting textile art forms I have ever scene is the art of mola making traditionally done by the Cuna indians of San Blas Islands, Panama. My mother brought one home after visiting Panama and I just knew I had to try to make one some day. I was amazed to realize that the designs on her 'picture' were done by reverse applique but with many layers of different colored cloth and in pencil thin lines. It was a beautiful piece of stitching and art.

Click on the following link to see a wonderful web page on Molas and the beautiful Indian women who make them. It is a great page for kids! It has intriguing native music playing in the background as well. http://charlottepatera.com/html/MAKE%20A%20MOLA/makeamola.html
In America, we do a very simple form of reverse applique using only two pieces of cloth. We cut away the shapes we want to reveal from the top layer of cloth to show a color below and then stitch the raw edges of the top layer down to the bottom layer. This technique is used for flowers, leaves, or even animal shapes. But never do we attempt such intricate lines or so many layers of cloth.


There is very little information available on how to do this, but as you can see from this picture, I am attempting a practice piece. I also bought a book from Dover publishing that has many authentic Mola indian designs that I may try to use for a piece for next year's art festival. It is much harder to do than it looks but it is really fun to try!

This is my second attempt. The cloth on my first mola was too thick allow me to do a good job on the applique stitches. In this mola, my lines are still wide. The pieces of cloth layered beneath the top layer of black cloth were not even, which is why the blue shows through the fish at the bottom. In the photo, you can see at the top that I have just cut slits to reveal blue for radiating lines. I used a white chalk marking pencil to draw the main designs and to plan out where I was going to cut. I'm mostly designing as I go.  I also spent the last year doing a project which uses similar techniques on a project I called "Moonstones".

Andrew Reith, who painted the picture, had similar lines in his painting to what the Kuna Indians do.  So I asked if I could sew his painting.  I got lots of practice sewing those cigar lines!  The project won our 3-dimensional division of the art show this year.  I did exactly what the Kuna ladies did on their molas to get misc. colors.  I just cut out pieces of the different colors I wanted and slipped it under the space I wanted to cut away.  Their techniques were central to my being able to reproduce Andrew's painting in fabric.   Notice the similarities in his design to the Mola art work.

Molas were made by the Kona indian women of Panama to replace body painting. A woman sews two identical pieces, one for the front of her blouse or dress and one for the back. She wears the dress with the mola until the dress is worn and/or faded and then rips the mola off and sews it onto another dress until she is tired of it. Then she rips it off again and sells it to local tradesmen who sell it to tourists. The average cost you will pay to buy one is around $75 to upwards of $200.00. If the mola doesn't have torn threads on the edges, or isn't a little worn or faded, it probably isn't authentic. The tourist versions are often made by machine and are not very well done. The artwork is also not usually traditional.

The most authentic mola designs are geometric. More contemporary ones incorporate more modern imagery. You will often see flowers, fish, birds, and other jungle animals. You will sometimes see Christian imagery from missionary influence. Some molas have indian spirit symbolism in them, if they are for religious purposes.

To learn more about this art see the rest of the links below.
  • Kuna Indian women and their art - http://www.panart.com/molainfo.htm
  • Mola Art Gallery - http://thorup.com/mola.html
  • How Molas are made - http://thorup.com/makeamola.html
  • Detailed instructions on how to make a simple Bug Mola. (Very Good!) http://charlottepatera.com/html/MAKE%20A%20MOLA/makeamola.html
  • Kid's Construction Paper Mola project- http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/2008/08/how-to-make-mola.html
  • Link to a great book -Molas!: Patterns, Techniques & Projects for Colorful Applique (Paperback-Buy used for less than $5.00)http://www.amazon.com/Molas-Patterns-Techniques-Projects-Colorful/dp/1579902235/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227384982&sr=1-3

11.11.08

SunBonnet Sue Applique Quilt


Hi Everyone,

I thought you all might like a 'sneak peak' at Elisabeth and Andrew's baby quilt that I have begun working on. The picture above shows the quilt blocks with all the pieces sewn to pellon backing and turned, ironed on and now ready to applique to the blocks. I will then need to embellish them with pretty things like lace, buttons, appliques etc.

And of course they still need to be sewn with pink or green sashing strips and cornerstones to make into a quilt top. I plan to take these to Germany to hand stitch and embellish. By January, I should have plenty of time to sew the sashing strips and cornerstones into the top and be ready to quilt the baby blanket. A baby shower will be coming up soon!

The pattern is very traditional and is called "Sunbonnet Sue". Rebekah has a beautiful quilt made of Sunbonnet Sues made all in blue scraps by a dear friend, Margie Lawrence, who taught Rebekah how to embroider and me how to do 'needle turn applique". She also gave me the pattern for this picture and made Rebekah a beautiful quilt of Sunbonnet Sues in Blue. It is hanging in our sewing room.

Here are the pieces of scraps cut out with the pattern out of all my scraps of pink and green cloth.

Since Elisabeth especially likes pink and green, I naturally thought to include those scraps in my baby quilt for the newest Rodgers girl--Baby Rodgers-Weber. Girls are rare in the Rodgers' clan, so when one is on the way it is cause for special celebration!

Here are the pictures of this baby blanket "in progress'. Planning which scraps and colors should be used for each dress is half the fun and really the most important part. But I can't wait to add all the pretty things to the little girls' dresses.

Enjoy!
Donna
(a proud Grandma!)
“There's nothing half so pleasant as coming home again.” ~ Margaret Sangster

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