Mola - The colorful embroidery from Panama

I was browsing for some colorful patterns where I wanted to use bright core colors on fabric and I chanced upon the Mola embroidery form.  I did some reading on this, and here is an intro:

Molas are works of art created by the women of the Central American Cuna (or Kuna) tribe, of the San Blas Islands in Panama. They are made using an appliqué process referred to as "reverse appliqué".  Several layers of cloth varying in color are loosely stitched together. Fine-tipped scissors are used to cut the top layers.  The cut edges are folded back and stitched to the layer below. Mola means "blouse" and were originally part of the woman's dress -- now they are sold around the world and are collected by many. Check out more details on Wikipedia and Panama Art Gallery;

I am excited to experiment some of these designs on tote bags, cushion covers etc. perhaps using fabric paint too??

Click these links for lots of design ideas:

•  Kuna Yala Mola Gallery; 
• Cindes Mola Embrodiery Collection
• Swedish blog Monsterarkivet's Mola collection
•  Machine embroidery - Mola designs