Logistically this is all new territory for me. It's my first muka bodice and it's my first shaped piece of muka. And it's only my third attempt of muka work overall so the whole journey is one of discovery. One of the things I have learnt (after many different angles and arrangements) is that it is easiest to weave if I put the mannequin's neck in between my legs and balance it there. That way I can lean her back to an angle that is ergonomically suited for my arms, wrists and fingers. I don't know how other weavers do it, but this is working well for me at the moment. I have so enjoyed having the mannequin to work on - it gives extra dimensions to my work rather than it just being a flat piece. In some way the piece comes alive and seems to guide me to what needs to be done next. I am loving it and I can sense that I will be doing a lot more of this!
This week was about counting out how many whenu I would separate off for the underarm and neaten that edge. That clearly divided the work into two fronts and a back, each piece being much easier to handle and quicker to work on. In saying that, I still seem to need extra clips and pegs to hold whenu in place and keep other whenu out of the way. After neatening off the underarm with two rows of whatu on the inside, I will leave the ends of the whenu long in case I need to undo it later. I am still not sure how everything will come together along the neck edges so won't trim anything short yet. I have a few ideas in my head so hopefully they will develop into something that works!
