About Lavalavas (Page 1 of 5)
 |
Lavalavas
are hand woven fabric, which is wrapped around the hips and secured
at the waist with a cord. Lavalavas are the traditional dress woven
and worn by the women in the Outer Islands of Yap in the Federated States
of Micronesia. Yap State, a group of islands in a 400,000 square mile
area in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, has a total land mass of approximately
56 square miles. |
| Traditionally
a lavalava was made with local fibers one of which was banana. Banana
fibers were produced using the fibrous layers from the trunk of the
wild banana tree Wild banana trees do not bear fruit and are harvested
to make fiber when they measure 4-6 inches in diameter. |
 |
 |
The
trunk of a banana tree is soft and fibrous, easily cut with a large
sharp knife. Leaves are removed and the trunk is taken back to the village
compounds to begin making the fiber. |
| The
brown outer-bark is stripped away exposing pure perfect white under-bark,
which the fiber is made from. |
 |
 |
A
sharpened clamshell is used to score the outer layer of white under-bark
of banana trunk. |
| A
thin strip of the fiber of the banana trunk is placed under scored marks
and pulled to the opposite end cutting a strip from the exposed layer.
|
 |
