Introduction

There are many times when adding in folded koana or pairs of koana is important. The brims of hats and filling out the pa of a hat after constructing the piko are good examples. Circular table mats are also beautiful articles which need the adding in of koana.

It is my understanding that when adding in, one must always have pairs, one moe and one ku. This is necessary to maintain symmetry in the final product. That is you need an equal number of moe and ku when you come to the edge of a hat brim in order to finish in an orderly manner.

Adding in a Folded Koana

In this tutorial weʻre going to show how to add in a single koana that will be folded 90 degrees to effectively make two koana. You can find this type of add in commonly on hat brims. Itʻs most useful when all the koana are a single color – that is none of them are dyed to provide contrast.

Weʻre going to use the lauhala weaving practice tool to show the add in process. Figure 1 below shows the starting point.

Figure 1. The starting point of the add in process

In Figure 2 we have added a ku koana colored green for visibility. It will go under a moe for the first step.

Figure 2. We weave a green colored koana under a moe to start the process

Figure 3 shows what will be the moe koana first folded up, folded 90 degrees and then under what is now the ku koana.

Figure 3. Now fold the green koana back and up, then bend and weave it under.

Figure 4. shows only the koana to the left of the green ku koana being woven in. This is an important point that must be followed.

Figure 4. Weaving in only the koana to the left of the green ku koana

Figure 5 now shows the first koana to the right of the green ku koana folded down. NOW we are ready to weave in the next moe koana.

Figure 5. Fold the koana to the right of the green ku koana down.

Figure 6 shows the moe koana lain down over two ku koana and the green ku koana and ready to be woven in.

Figure 6. See the moe koana lain down and ready to be woven in

Figure 7 shows the first moe woven in. At this point both the green moe and ku koana are part of the weaving structure and normal weaving can continue.

Figure 7. The first moe koana woven in.