Chapter 9 - Traditional and modern

I attended an exhibition by Grassington branch of the Embroiderers Guild whilst I was working on this chapter and there on display were two authentic molas!

I added photographs of the  real thing and having tried this for myself I have to say that I'm filled with admiration for the women who make such intricate designs. My own very small attempt has four layers of plain cotton fabric in alternating colours. I do like the finished article, wish I'd added more layers so the design ended up bigger, but how they work out designs such as the bird is a mystery to me!!

My three contemporary samples all use the same five-sided star.
Sample A has the outside shape stitched first and the fabric cut away inside the stitching. The edges were frayed back to the stitching.
Sample B has the inside shape stitched first and then the fabric cut away outside the stitch line. The same stack of fabrics was used as in Sample A and it is striking how different the two appear.
Sample C has some fabrics which did not form complete layers in an attempt to show different colours around the star.

I really like the star shape that I used for these last three samples but I learned that if I had left a bigger gap between the stitch lines I could have frayed the fabrics more which would probably have given a more pronounced result. In Sample C several of the coral coloured fabrics were very similar in colour and more contrasting fabrics would have helped the finished effect.