Knitting Chart vs Mola
編み図 / モラ
Knitting Chart comes from Notation Systems and Mola from Textile Traditions. One is style and the other technique. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.
Knitting Chart
The sheet music of handwork, where stitches become symbols laid out on a grid. Japan's JIS stitch symbols compress each operation into one figure, so the pattern is visible before it is read, unlike the written-out instructions relied on in the West.
Mola
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Guna women in Panama make reverse appliqué. Layers of colored cloth are cut back and stitched down until every contour ripples in several lines, printmaking in fabric that is worn daily as the panels of a blouse.
| Knitting Chart | Mola | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | 19th century– | late 19th century– |
| Family | Notation Systems | Textile Traditions |
| Kind | Style | Technique |
| Cues | The grid of stitch symbols / One stitch, one symbol / Row and stitch coordinates / Correspondence to the finished fabric | Layered reverse appliqué / Multiple contour lines / Maze-like ground filling / Animals and geometry |
| Best used for | Replacing a written stitch procedure with a figure read at a glance · Testing a complex motif on paper before any yarn is committed | Building an image in cloth where contour thickness itself does the work · Setting imagery into a garment meant to be worn every day |
| Type | One symbol per stitch, columns held even where counts change | Run several contours around the figure at even spacing |
| Composition | One cell per stitch, rows upward, counts numbered at both edges | Center the main figure and fill the leftover ground with maze-like slits |
| Material | Knitted fabric is not square, so set cell ratio from gauge | Stack colored cloths, cut down from the top, turn the edges and stitch |
| Caution | A chart drawn on square cells misstates the proportion, and the finished motif comes out stretched taller than the drawing promised. | Fewer layers and a single contour stop the color from emerging through the cuts, and the panel goes flat. |