Canolas Workshop

Special Rug Hooking Workshop on Canolas

Loretta Moore is offering a Rug Hooking Workshop on a fun technique that she and her friends have named “CANOLAS”, a Canadian rug hooking version of traditional Mola designs.

What is a Mola you may ask?
Molas are handmade using a reverse appliqué technique. Several layers (usually two to seven) of different-coloured cloth (usually cotton) are sewn together; the design is then formed by cutting away parts of each layer. The edges of the layers are then turned under and sewn down. Often, the stitches are nearly invisible. This is achieved by using a thread the same color as the layer being sewn, sewing blind stitches, and sewing tiny stitches. The finest molas have extremely fine stitching, made using tiny needles.

This closeup of a Mola by Venancio Restrepo shows the
layering of different colours of cloth, and the fine stitching involved.
Picture by: Johan TheChost, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mola_(art_form)

The largest pattern is typically cut from the top layer, and progressively smaller patterns from each subsequent layer, thus revealing the colours beneath in successive layers. This basic scheme can be varied by cutting through multiple layers at once, hence varying the sequence of colours; some molas also incorporate patches of contrasting colours, included in the design at certain points to introduce additional variations of colour.

Rug hookers have taken this technique or “look” and adapted it to Rug Hooking. Norma Bastini is
one name that comes to mind, she has several “mola style” rug hooking patterns on her website. Often these patterns depict typical South or Central American animals.

Loretta has gone a step further and adapted the style to Canadian animals, hence the name “Canolas” or “Canadian Molas”.

In this workshop you will be designing your own rug hooking pattern by taking a Canadian animal and portraying it in the style of a mola.

See attached photos for ideas. Some of these are designs done in one of Loretta’s classes so please respect the work of others and don’t copy!

Canola Rug Hooking Workshop
Date: Saturday, April 13
Time: Approx: 10 am to 4 pm
Cost: Approx 50$  A 25$ deposit is requested
Location: to be determined (but West Island)

If interested please contact a member of the executive and we will get back to you with more details.
Note: As you will be designing your own pattern class size is limited to 13.