A Hawaiian quilt is a distinctive

quilt A quilt is a multi-layered textile, traditionally composed of two or more layers of fabric or fiber. Commonly three layers are used with a filler material. These layers traditionally include a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding, ...

ing style of the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost ...

that uses large radially symmetric applique patterns. Motifs often work stylized botanical designs in bold colors on a white background. Hawaiian quilt applique is made from a single cut on folded

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not ...

. Quilting stitches normally follow the contours of the applique design.

History

Hawaiian quilting derives from the kapa moe, an indigenous bed cover textile. Kapa was constructed from the inner bark of local trees. Traditional kapa was beaten and

felt Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood ...

ed, then

dyed Dyeing is the application of dyes or pigments on textile materials such as fibers, yarns, and fabrics with the goal of achieving color with desired color fastness. Dyeing is normally done in a special solution containing dyes and particular ...

in geometric patterns. Quilting may have begun in the Hawaiian islands with the arrival of

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

and Western fabrics in the 1820s. The climate of Hawaii is unsuitable for

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

cultivation and kapa is unsuitable for quilting so all Hawaiian quilts are constructed from imported material. The earliest written reference comes from

Isabella Bird Isabella Lucy Bird, married name Bishop (15 October 1831 – 7 October 1904), was a nineteenth-century British explorer, writer, photographer, and naturalist. With Fanny Jane Butler she founded the John Bishop Memorial Hospital in Srinagar i ...

who visited Hawaii in 1870 and wrote a travelogue ''Six Months in the Sandwich Islands''.

Flag quilts

Another Hawaiian quilt style is the Hawaiian flag quilt, also known as ''Ku’u Hae Aloha'' ("My Beloved Flag" or "Lost Beloved Flag") quilts. The typical flag quilt includes four Hawaiian flags surrounding the coat of arms of the

Hawaiian Royal Family The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent islan ...

or crown.Hammond, Joyce D., "Hawaiian Flag Quilts: Multivalent Symbols of a Hawaiian Quilt Tradition" (1993). Anthropology. Paper 14. http://cedar.wwu.edu/anthropology_facpubs/14 Flag quilts combine pieced work with appliqued motifs, unlike other traditional Hawaiian quilts, which do not use pieced work. Flag quilts may have originated as early as 1843, when

Lord George Paulet George Paulet CB (12 August 1803 – 22 November 1879) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He entered the navy shortly after the end of the Napoleonic Wars and after some years obtained his own command. He served off the Iberian Peninsula durin ...

claimed the Hawaiian Islands for the British and ordered all Hawaiian flags destroyed. Many of these flag quilts date back to the overthrow of the monarchy, when displaying the Hawaiian flag was considered treason. Quilts bearing symbols of the monarchy were a form of silent resistance. File:Ku'u Hae Aloha (My Beloved Flag), Hawaiian cotton quilt from Waimea, before 1918, Honolulu Academy of Arts.jpg, K''uʻu Hae Aloha (My Beloved Flag)'', Hawaiian cotton quilt from Waimea, before 1918,

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single co ...

File:Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I ka Pono-Halepualani, Hawaiian quilt, Honolulu Museum of Art 5469.1.JPG, '' Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I ka Pono-Halepualani'', Hawaiian quilt, silk satin, wool batting, cotton, Honolulu Museum of Art File:Na Kihapai Nani Lua 'Ole O Edena a Me Elenale (The Beautiful Unequaled Gardens of Eden and of Elenale), Hawaiian cotton quilt, before 1918, Honolulu Academy of Arts.jpg, ''Na Kihapai Nani Lua ʻOle O Edena a Me Elenale (The Beautiful Unequaled Gardens of Eden and of Elenale)'', Hawaiian cotton quilt, before 1918, Honolulu Museum of Art

Other styles

Hawaiian quilters also made other styles of quilts including embroidering quilts and crazy quilting. The most famous Hawaiian crazy quilt is the one made by

Queen Liliuokalani Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mo ...

during her internment after the overthrow of the monarchy.

Value

Antique flag quilts fetch higher prices than applique quilts: high quality flag quilts may be valued at $40,000 - $60,000 while applique quilts sell for $9000 – $15,000. Factors that affect price include the quality of the original construction, preservation of the item's color and physical integrity, and

provenance Provenance (from the French ''provenir'', 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art but is now used in similar senses i ...

."Why Hawaiian Quilts?" ''

Antiques Road Show ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people (g ...

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References

* Serrao, Poakalani, ''The Hawaiian quilt, A spiritual experience, Reflection on its history, heritage, designing, quilting methods and patterns'', Honolulu, Mutual Pub., 1997. * Severson, Don R., ''Finding Paradise, Island Art in Private Collections'', University of Hawaii Press, 2002, 237-254.

Footnotes

External links

The Queen's QuiltBishop Museum Quilt DatabaseA Stitch in Time
Article about Hawaiian quilters by Cheryl Tsutsumi. ''

Maui No Ka 'Oi Magazine The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, whic ...

'' Vol. 12 No.6 (November 2008). {{Layered textiles Quilting

Quilts A quilt is a multi-layered textile, traditionally composed of two or more layers of fabric or fiber. Commonly three layers are used with a filler material. These layers traditionally include a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding, a ...