Mola tutorial 01- Materials & tools

To  start making molas you need easy to find materials, like pieces of fabric, scissors, thread and a needle. 

Fabric

The best fabric to use for making molas is 100%, lightweight cotton. If you can't fιnd 100% cotton you can use blended fabric of cotton and polyester. Authentic molas use solid colors. However, occasionally, you might see printed fabrics, since it was not always easy to find solid colors.  In the molas, it is used lightweight fabric. However the Kunas sometimes use also heavy type of cotton, but only for the foundation layer.

Needles and Thread 
The thread should match the color of the fabric. You can use cotton or polyester thread.

Scissors
You'll need small embroidery scissors, pointed and sharp

Tracing carbon paper
One way to transfer the pattern to the fabric is by using tracing carbon paper. Use dark tracing paper for light fabric and light tracing paper for dark fabrics. However the Indians trace the design directly onto the fabric. Sometimes they use pencil and sometimes they start stitching and cutting directly.

Pins
It is an optional material. Kuna womes place quick basting stitches to hold pieces together instead of pins.