Molas
3rd grade students learned about the art of the Kuna people called a mola and created their own paper molas from original animal drawings.
The Kuna people live on a chain of islands called San Blas Archipelago, on the Atlantic side of the Republic of Panama. A mola is a traditional blouse worn by Kuna women.
These blouses are made from two pannels of colorful fabric that are hand stiched with complex designs
Traditional molas are created with simple, brightly colored cotton fabric that is cut into a shape and hand stitched onto a panel of cloth. Additional layers of colorful fabric are added on top of the original one. They are stitched around the outer edge, cut into an "outline" of fabric to reveal the color beneath, and stitched on the interior wall. This creates a multi-colored, multi-layered design with an otherwise simple pattern.