How to Learn Lauhala Weaving from Ukuleles by Kawika

Updated

Ukuleles by Kawika hosts a free, sequential lauhala weaving curriculum that takes you from preparing raw leaves to finishing a woven hat. Start with the preparation and posture pages, weave the practice projects in order (coaster, trivet, basket), and only then move to hats and pattern changes. The site is a personal instructional archive rather than a course with enrollment, so you work through the pages at your own pace.

What the site actually offers

The weaving section is organized as a numbered progression, not a random blog. The main clusters are:

  • Preparation: sources of information, Hawaiian vocabulary for weaving/plaiting, getting ready to weave, preparing lauhala, using a glycerin solution to soften leaves, thornless variegated lau preparation, and cutting strips (koana).
  • Body and tool basics: weaving posture and exercises, a weaving tool and techniques, and a practice tool for improving ulana skills.
  • Patterns and joins: herringbone maka ʻoena, adding in koana, adding a two-piece koana, adding a folded koana, adding a bent koana, and the lock fold.
  • Ten numbered projects: small coaster (check weave / maka moena), small trivet (check weave), small trivet (twill weave / maka oeno), trivet/purse (diagonal weave), nihoniho (toothed) coaster, small basket, lauhala-covered door stop, drinking glass sleeve, simple hat (parts 1 and 2), and starting a pāʻole pāpale or garden hat.
  • Advanced hat work: changing horizontal twill to vertical twill, changing horizontal twill to check, changing check to vertical twill, adding love knots, hat-making tools, homemade ipu forms, piko transitions, adding koana to the brim, sewing sweatbands, serrated edge plaiting, and guest sections on hatbands and papale making.

There is also a separate ukulele section (stringing, tunings, koa wood, a Hawaiian ukulele characteristics database, vintage manuals), so use the weaving pages specifically if weaving is your goal.

A working order for a beginner

  1. Read the vocabulary and "getting ready" pages first. The tutorials use Hawaiian terms for strips, patterns, and joins; learning them before you cut anything prevents confusion later.
  2. Prepare your material. Follow the lauhala preparation and glycerin-softening pages, then the koana cutting page. Soft, evenly cut strips are the precondition for everything that follows.
  3. Set up your body and tools. Work through the posture/exercises page and make the practice tool. Weaving is done in long sessions with repetitive hand motion, so the site treats posture as part of the method, not an afterthought.
  4. Weave Project 1 (coaster, check weave). This is your first complete piece and teaches tension and edge control.
  5. Repeat the check weave in Project 2 (trivet), then switch to twill in Project 3. Doing the same pattern twice before changing patterns is the site's own sequencing logic.
  6. Learn the joins before you need them. Practice adding in koana (plain, two-piece, folded, bent) on scrap work, because every larger project requires starting new strips mid-weave.
  7. Move through diagonal weave (Project 4), the nihoniho coaster (5), and the basket (6). These introduce shaping and decorative edges.
  8. Do the small projects 7–8 (door stop, glass sleeve) as quick confidence pieces before hats.
  9. Start hats with Projects 9–10, then use the pattern-change and piko pages as reference while weaving.

What to expect at each stage

Stage Pages to use Skill you are building
Material prep Preparing lauhala, glycerin solution, cutting koana Consistent, workable strips
First weaves Projects 1–3 Check and twill tension, square edges
Joins Adding in koana (4 variants), lock fold Extending strips without weak spots
Shaping Projects 4–6 Diagonal weave, toothed edges, basket form
Hats Projects 9–10, piko pages, brim additions Crown, piko transition, brim, sweatband

Common sticking points

  • Skipping the glycerin step. Dry or brittle leaves crack at the fold; the site includes softening specifically to avoid this.
  • Cutting strips unevenly. Width variation shows up immediately in check weave. Cut a batch, then sort.
  • Learning joins late. Most failed beginner pieces fail at a join, not in the pattern. Practice joins on a scrap coaster.
  • Jumping to hats too early. Hats combine every prior skill (piko, brim additions, pattern changes); the numbered projects exist to build those first.
  • Ignoring the posture page. The exercises are there because weaving is physically repetitive; treat them as part of the tutorial.

Practical notes

The site lists Stripe among its payment platforms, which relates to the shop side of the site; the weaving tutorials themselves are published as free instructional pages. No pricing for instruction is stated on the pages reviewed, so do not assume any paid course structure. For questions the pages do not answer, the site's own motto—everyone has something to teach and something to learn—reflects its community-oriented, reference-style approach rather than a formal support channel.