Bag

A flat rectangular bag (kete muka) made from New Zealand Flax, in lighter and darker coloured undyed fibre. There is a wide fringe around three sides on the back and front, and one twisted fibre handle with two tassels at each ends. This bag was made by finger-weaving or twining and the main technique is double-pair twining, which forms the wefts (aho). This began at the top edge with a selvedge, and finished at the bottom where the warp threads (whenu) were left loose, and are covered by the fringes. There are seven warps per cm, and the wefts are 10 mm apart. The fringe threads are joined by a line of double-pair twining and sewn onto the bottom and side edges. There is one fringe on the back of the bag and one on the front. Every fifth warp is slightly darker in colour, and pairs of these cross over four others between the wefts, forming a cross-diagonal pattern in vertical stripes. This pattern is repeated on the back of the bag. The handle is damaged, and a second handle may be missing.