Cloak

A rectangular cloak (kaitaka) made from New Zealand Flax fibre with a decorative twined border (taniko) on three sides and coloured wool twined along the edges. This garment was made by finger-weaving or twining without the use of a loom. The main technique used is double-pair twining, which forms the wefts (aho). This began with the loose ends of the warps (whenu) at the bottom of the main section, and finished at the neck edge with the warps folded over. The warps do not continue into the bottom taniko border; the three borders were attached after the main part of the cloak was made. The cloak is very finely twined with nine to ten warps per cm and the wefts (aho) 10mm apart. There is one extra weft (aho poka) on each side at the shoulder area and six grouped on each side at the hip to provide shaping. The taniko patterns include zig-zags, triangles and diamonds in black or dark brown and pale yellow undyed New Zealand flax. The bottom taniko border is deeper than the side borders, and all borders have red, yellow and brown wool twined in or sewn on. All edges have twined red wool, as does the bottom taniko attachment to the main section of the cloak. There are the remains of black (twisted cord) tassels along the top edge. Some red wool sewn on (at the top of the side taniko) may not be original. The taniko border is breaking away in places.