The Hawaiian Quilt: A Spiritual Experience

Patching and sewing were part of the domestic duties taught to young Hawaiian girls by the early missionary women who came to Hawai'i. Working with supple cotton cloth was a new experience for the people accustomed to pounding their kapa for clothing. What started as sewing small patches onto a blank fabric background soon changed into a creative, artistic, and cultural expression. The Hawaiian women took large sheets of material, folded them into equal parts, and cut their designs. They took elements from their religion, their legends, or the islands' natural beauty and incorporated them into an appliqued overlay on the quilt. As their culture and traditions were being stripped away and replaced with Western lifestyles, these women sat in sewing circles and stitched the fabric of their history into the delicate patterns of the Hawaiian quilt. The original quilts were made of either red, blue, green, or yellow cotton sheeting cut and stitched on the bland, egg-shell muslin brought to the islands by traders. Today's modern quilters use a wide variety of colors to create their heirloom masterpieces. These lovingly handmade quilts, given at weddings and births, are prized above all other gifts as the ultimate expression of aloha. The Hawaiian Quilt - A Spiritual Experience is a complete guide to the tradition, heritage, and cultural significance of Hawai'i's most cherished gift. It will take you step-by-step, from the history of quilt-making in Hawai'i through the process of making your own quilt, to the best way to display your finished keepsake. Chapters on centering, branching, borders, folding, securing, the applique', quilting, and hiding your stitched are illustrated with detailed, very easy-to-follow instructions. With the comprehensive how-to text and history, anyone with patience and practice can master this home-spun Hawaiian art. Join the kupana, our ancestors, in an expression of the artistic Hawaiian in all of us.