The History of Quilting – Hawaii
Posted by teenhobbies on October 25, 2007
Hawaiian quilting is said to have started when the wives of two chiefs were
introduced to quilting by missionaries on board a boat. Hawaiians would not
naturally have begun to quilt for domestic use, as quilts were not needed in the
warm Hawaiian climate.
The missionaries showed the Hawaiians how to cut up fabrics into pieces and
then sew them back together. This the Hawaiians found rather wasteful, as they
were careful with all their resources and didn’t understand the concept of cutting
up a large piece of material, only to sew pieces of it back together, and then be
left with bits that couldn’t be used.
Eventually, the Hawaiians found a way of using their own clothing fabric (called
tapa) which they folded to achieve 1/4 or 1/8 patterns, and they gave any waste pieces back to the missionaries for them to use in their own quilting. This tapa was from tree bark.
The unique nature of the Hawaiian quilting is clear in their use of local flora, and
the spirit world as design influences for their quilts. Conceptually, they used
quilts to record their environment, their departed love ones, and their still to be
born. Their quilts were also strongly about the Hawaiian identity and the identity
of the individual members of their society.
The Hawaiian Gods, their rites and ceremonies, and their history, are all depicted
in the wonderful Hawaiian quilts. Local events and major historical events were
all beautifully detailed and preserved in their quilts. In fact, all their quilts have a
story to tell, or a person to describe, or an act to preserve for posterity.
