Cloak

A rectangular cloak (ngore) made from New Zealand Flax fibre with wool running threads at intervals on the outside and wool fringes on the bottom and side edges. This garment was made by finger-weaving or twining without the use of a loom. The main technique used is double-pair twining, beginning at the bottom edge with the loose warp threads (whenu) forming a fringe and finishing at the neck with the warps folded over and left loose, and dark blue and brown wool threads twined in. The loose warps form short fringes at the ends of the neck edge. There are 12 warps per cm and the wefts (aho) are 5mm apart. There are thirteen grouped extra short wefts (aho poka) at the shoulder and nineteen at the hip to provide shaping. Dark and light blue, red and brown wool running threads form rectangles on the main section of the cloak and along the side edges, with dark blue and red wool threads in lines along the bottom edge. There are light blue wool tassels along the bottom edge, and dark blue, light blue and brown tassels along the sides. The tassels are inserted upside down. Brown and light blue wool warps along the side edges form a plaited finish, and the wefts are cut and tied. The cloak is slightly stained in places.