Mawhitiwhiti

I was asked 'what is mawhitiwhiti?'  Mawhitiwhiti is where the downward strings- the whenu- are crossed over each other in patterns and stitched in a different order. 

Here you can see groups of 5 paired whenu are crossed to make a pattern. This is done by holding the first of the five out of the way, stitching the fifth of the five first, then the second , third, and fourth, and then finally the first of the group of five is stitched. 

There are many patterns that can be  produced by crossing the whenu in different ways. 

And mawhitiwhiti can be used in many places in korowai, wall hangings and in bags. 

Here it is used in the kaupapa of this cloak along with the feathers and here in a bag. 

In my book ' Mawhitiwhiti patterns and woven bags' I show how to stitch the various patterns and how to make a bag like this one above