Molas
 

Thought you might like to see a couple of nice molas.

Both lovely!

What's a molas?

Beautiful. I don't know what a molas is either, but these are beautiful. I love the colors.

Dina

Molas are reverse applique panels sewn into clothing and worn by the Kuna (spelling?) women in Panama. A friend of mine lived in Panama for several years and collected some of them.

I Googled it. http://www.panart.com/molainfo.htm Indigenous art form from Pannama.

They're simply beautiful. About 30 years ago I took some quilting classes and one of the week long lessons was doing molas. Absolutely love them:)

they are beautiful...I wish I had their artistic talent.

They are beautiful and unusual. I had never seen them before. Thanks for posting.

thanks for sharing this with us, It is so much fun learning of art forms

Colorful and attractive.

beautiful work

Very nice. :)

love them, so colorful! thanks for sharing those!

Nice, learn something here everyday!

I saw one at the Miller Bowie Quilt show this year. Yours are very pretty! thanks for sharing.

They are pretty.

These are such interesting pieces - I love the primitive designs and bright colors: Thanks for sharing.

They are very nice. I think they would be great each in the center of a quilt. Just think how much fun you would have picking colors to go with them and finding just the right blocks. They are wonderful works of art. Thank you for sharing.

Very very nice.

Those are so beautiful.....I wish I had that skill.....

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I have a small bag which I purchased at least 20 years ago at a street faire in San Francisco. I use it in my purse as a cosmetic bag....I have hand washed it once. The sewing is exceptional and at that time, a very new craft. I am amazed at the fine handwork every time I see it. As I remember, it was under $10.....an unheard of price then and definitely now....LOL!

My daughter has several Molas that her mother-in-law brought back from Panama.

I have a few small pieces purchased various spots in Central America. But I don't dare to incorporate in a quilt because of the washing. Anyone have experience with this?

And I would never try one on my own!

Wow - lovely work?

Love the molas.

Wow, did you do those yourself? They are beautiful.

Beautiful molas. Several years ago a friend had several that she has collected from the San Blas Islands. She made them into a wall hanging that was simply spectacular.

Absolutely, totally love the colors.

Love them.

My husband was born and raised in the Panama Canal Zone and had occasion to visit the San Blas islands where the native people make molas. They are very careful to preserve their traditions and culture. They make some molas for trade these days, but traditionally they were part of the women's clothing. I suspect they might have vegetable dyes that might not be stable in a quilt, and having one within a larger piece might put undue strain on the stitches. Every one I've seen was done entirely by hand, and the colors are always intense and varied. We have some in frames and would not want to handle them a lot. However they seem to hold up well when worn and washed by the people who make them. You can find dozens of them on eBay, and some may be from non-authentic sources. There's a wide variety of subject matter and quality.

For unknown reasons these people have an unusually high incidence of albinism. Usually the men of the tribe would be employed in fishing, but an albino can not safely work in the sun. The solution has been to keep albino boys at home and teach them needle arts along with the girls. There is no stigma resulting from this. In fact the albinos have a special status in their society.

You can find more pictures and information here: http://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/docs...ssactmolas.pdf and of course, in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuna_people Interesting that the article is called "Kuna People", but the first paragraph says that the preferred spelling now is "Guna".

I am delighted that you shared these.

Those are great...

very nice!!!

Your molas are wonderful! I made one into a pillow for my granddaughter to go with a batik quilt I'd made.. She loves all the bright colors in them.. as do I...

Beautiful.....would like to try this someday.