January is Muʻumuʻu Month. I don't have enough muʻumuʻu to wear a different one each day like some on social media, but I try to wear one whenever I leave the house. So when we went to see Hamilton and then Muʻu at the Museum after, I had to doll up in my nicest holomuʻu... A vintage Mamo Howell.
Seeing all the muʻumuʻu, holomuʻu, and holokū was amazing that night at Hānaiakamalama. I confess, I fangirled-out seeing muʻu fashionistas that I follow on Instagram in person. The mākeke was relatively small, but the vendors were excellent.
The following week, luncheon with muʻumuʻu friends at Kona Inn Restaurant: Raynette, Joanie, Me, Sunshine, Cara, and Lori. I'm in a "recent" white Princess Kaʻiulani Fashions.
Then weaving and lei hulu at the Eva Parker Woods Cottage. It was wonderful to catch up with everyone and see their latest projects. I'm wearing a blue floral "vintage" double tag collaboration of Bete Muʻu x Reyn Spooner (mentioned here) from DeStash Hawaii. Love Spooner cloth as it breathes so well.
I had stopped accepting new pāpale orders due to health reasons (not life threatening anymore, just really inconvenient joint pain/residual side effects that affect weaving with consistent tension). I'm also out of lauhala and in the process of cleaning/prepping a new batch. It's an outside daytime sort of activity - as bugs, coqui frogs, geckos, etc. reside in the lau - so at night I've been using leftover mauʻu for smaller projects like bracelets and purses. Although been asked, I'm not ready to sell purses. Since 2003, I've made some 260+ pāpale but only about 7 or 8 purses. They seem structurally sound, but I'm not ready to sell them just yet.
Above is a new-to-me Hilo Hattie's holomuʻu (from Etsy Seller BohemianImports) and a little purse I had finished in December. The mauʻu was "short" so the purse ended up less than four inches tall. I also included copper RFID shielding fabric between the linings. This cute little purse turned out perfect for carrying my phone, glasses, and a small wallet.
The last Sunday in January, the Four Season Hualalai hosted a muʻu event at their Kaʻūpūlehu Cultural Center: muʻu swap, shop, lei making, refreshments, live music, "selfie station" and impromptu hula. Agnes Terao-Guiala's muʻumuʻu book met us at the entry. I was admiring the gorgeous lei hulu.
Aloha Victor had Kauluaʻe for sale too. Above: Aloha and Cara.
Above: Raynette, Cara, and I posing at the "selfie station." I'm in a "vintage" but really from probably the 1980-90s Princess Kaʻiulani Fashions from Kauaʻi Vintage via Instagram. It seems these days anything older than 10 years may be considered vintage. LOL.
Mahalo nui to Ka'ai'ōhelo McAfee-Torco, the Kaū'pūlehu Cultural Center Manager, for organizing/coordinating such an enjoyable Muʻumuʻu Month Celebration. I hope it becomes an annual thing!
Above: The bottom and top liner pieces. Then hand stitching the top liner piece, with handles attached, to the main lining. Last night, or early this morning really, I finished another purse. It's 5-3/8 inches tall. The fabric is from Spoonflower.com, where one can order a design printed on fabric of choice by the yard. I liked this lei ʻilima design on heavy twill. Turns out, it is lovely but not as forgiving as the bark cloth I used in the previous (small) purse.
Above: The "latest" purse in-progress, the lauhala outer part in background, next to the previous "short" purse with bark cloth. Top view of the purse with zipper closed.
Below: The finished purse... Kikokiko (naturally spotted) lauhala was gifted from multi-talented friend Ben Heloca; fabric from Spoonflower.com; vintage bamboo shaped lucite handles from eBay; Koa heart shaped button from Woods by Herb; copper RFID shielding fabric from LessEMF; fabric interfacing and zipper from local quilt stores.
Then, to close out Muʻumuʻu Month, Cara, Raynette, and I had luncheon today at Papa Kona Restaurant. I'm wearing a vintage paisely Bete Muʻu from eBay. Raynette may be a new convert to vintage muʻumuʻu!
Now back to cleaning my lau...