OK the pic below gives you a visual of what I was trying to explain with little success.
This how we used to "plait with thread". One style involved sectioning the hair into 4 parallel rows from front to back as if you were going to make 4 cornrows and then sectioning each row into square section and wrapping each section as in the pic above. The smaller the section, the neater the do. So change that to sectioning into narrow rectangles.
After you've wrapped all the hair, you then work on the two rows on one side of the head and create what looks like a French braid/fish tail by crossing over two sections at a time and wrapping them into one and keep wrapping the main stem till you get to a point where you can add the next pair...and so on. I'm sure you've seen the do. If you're skillful at doing this, the stem sorta gets buried under and what you see is similar to what some call an upside down French braid, only made of rods as seen above.
The "fun" part about this do is it made your hair so straight, like pressed hair, after a week or so of wearing it. I remember begging my mom to do my hair like this because the stretch would make my hair appear longer - which was the thing I wished for most: to be able to put my hair in a pony tail/puff.
*sigh*
So now picture wrapping the hair like that with a shiny, tissue-like ribbon. Then instead of leaving them straight, you take a knitting needle and wrap the "rods" to form a coil that's not as tight as a phone cord but more like a stiff tendril. Now fold the over each other in a way that creates a "medusa-like" bun. Don't ask me how you secure it. It's been over 25 years since I had this done. But now that it's come to mind and I can't find pics, I hafta try this on myself someday. And when I do, I'll be so proud of myself, I'll bombard you with pics.
ETA: Another cute "thread do" that I must wear someday:
Sorry to hijack the thread, but the point I was trying to make is if you don't have hair long enough to make a nice low bun with your own hair's cornrow tails, you can hold some hair beside the tails of your cornrows and wrap your hair and additional hair together to create a long "rod" and then make a tendril and fold each one in ways where they seem to mingle and entwine...then mold the wavy creations into an elaborate pretty bun. (Sorry I cannot suggest how to "fix" the style, so for now just find a fine net and put it over it till we can figure something out
)
OK, I'ma shut up now.
Pics are in my Fotki.
I'm getting mine put in on Saturday, can't wait! 
