Sue's husband has spent much of the last year cleaning out his parent's house after his mother's passing last May. Recently he unearthed her fabric stash and brought it home for Sue to go through. Most of it is apparel and home decor fabrics from the 1970's and 80's, but buried within the piles was a bag containing molas - hand applique pieces from Panama. Are you familiar with molas? They are colorful applique pieces made by the Kuna Indians, from the San Blas Islands, which are an integral part of their native costume and popular among tourists to the area. Elizabeth is our resident expert on molas, since she lived in Panama while her husband was stationed there with the Air Force and has a personal mola collection of more than 400 pieces. Publicity from a 1963 article in Women's World Weekly popularized the idea that a mola was a stack of fabric cut down through multiple layers to show the different color from each layer, thus the term "reverse applique". In reality, most molas are 2 layers and sometimes 3 with the other layers as inserts of small pieces of fabric stitched down with tiny stitches just as would be a traditional applique. Imagine how thick and hot, living in a tropical climate, a garment made of many layers would be if the term reverse applique applied to the entire technique for creating the garment?
This mola (above) is typical of an abstract design used by the Kuna Indians who live on islands along the coast of Panama and Colombia. Mola is the Kuna word for blouse and over the years in western society has become the term associated with the intricate applique panel used to make both the front and back of the blouse. Molas can be classified as acculturation or traditional. The acculturation molas can be further broken down to representations of commercial items, advertisements and the world from outside the Kuna culture. Traditional molas represent items from their world, many of them depictions of the natural world, geometric and abstract linear designs, as shown above. Depictions of flora and fauna are also used on such molas and their cash crop, coconuts, is often seen in these designs.
This is a pair of Christmas designs likely intended to be sold to a tourist but made as if they were going to be part of the traditional mola blouse. One panel on the blouse front and the other on the back. This is an example of an acculturation mola. When the maker cuts out pieces of one layer on one panel, they can be swapped in the mirror image of the second panel. Molas meant to wear always come in pairs and are typically sold together. The vertical slits, called cigar slits, to take up the negative space around the bell design are slits made in the top layer and small pieces of fabric inserted behind and then stitched to make the cigar shapes. The fabrics in these slits are not one solid piece across the entire mola. The cigar slits are used by stitchers from one section of the Kuna community and can be traced back to the islands of the maker. They are loosely stitched together just to keep them as a pair for sale. Likewise, the pair below of stylized birds.
Though intended to be used together in the construction of the blouse, they could certainly be used separately, perhaps on a shirt, maybe a tote bag, or the focal piece of an art quilt by the buyer. These roosters are surrounded in the negative space by a maze-like design which indicates another area of the Kuna community of stitchers. The feathers are appliqued down using small colorful fabric bits saved when making other pieces. Kuna women use all the fabric down to the smallest of pieces.
This parrot is a non-traditional mola, a single piece and has embroidery stitching in addition to the applique. It is meant to be sold to a tourist and not to be used by a Kuna herself. Kunas travel from their islands to the city in Panama, typically for medical care and have found a market for small mola styled pieces to be sold to tourists. There is a cooperative market in Panama City which assists them in reaching a market. When the US was still managing the Panama Canal, many military members were stationed in Panama and bought molas to bring back to the US as souvenirs.
Finally, there is a collection of tourist molas, smaller pieces - circles and squares that feature fish and birds. Though stitched together like the larger pairs, that was for purposes of sale, not intended to stay together. They can easily be separated and used individually or in smaller groups. The bird on the white background is especially nice.
Though Sue has no particular plans on what to do with these, there are lots of options as mentioned previously. She may keep some and sell or donate others. What would you do with them if you found such a treasure?
