A Hawaiian quilt is a distinctive quilt

Quilt

A quilt is a type of bed cover, traditionally composed of three layers of fiber: a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding and a woven back, combined using the technique of quilting. “Quilting” refers to the technique of joining at least two fabric layers by stitches or ties...

ing style of the Hawaiian Islands

Hawaiian Islands

The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...

 that uses large radially symmetric applique

Applique

In its broadest sense, an appliqué is a smaller ornament or device applied to another surface. In the context of ceramics, for example, an appliqué is a separate piece of clay added to the primary work, generally for the purpose of decoration...

 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

A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

. Quilting stitch

Stitch (textile arts)

In the textile arts, a stitch is a single turn or loop of thread or yarn. Stitches are the fundamental elements of sewing, knitting, embroidery, crochet, and needle lace-making, whether by hand or machine...

es normally follow the contours of the applique design.

History

Hawaiian quilting derives from the kapa moe

Kapa moe

A kapa moe is a traditional Hawaiian bedcovering made from tree bark, then beaten and felted to achieve a soft texture and dye stamped in geometric patterns. Several layers of kapa would be stitched together at the edges to form a kapa moe.-External links:*...

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

Felt

Felt is a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing woollen fibres. While some types of felt are very soft, some are tough enough to form construction materials. Felt can be of any colour, and made into any shape or size....

ed, then dyed

Dyeing

Dyeing is the process of adding color to textile products like fibers, yarns, and fabrics. Dyeing is normally done in a special solution containing dyes and particular chemical material. After dyeing, dye molecules have uncut Chemical bond with fiber molecules. The temperature and time controlling...

 in geometric patterns.

Quilting may have begun in the Hawaiian islands with the arrival of missionaries

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

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

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

 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 Bird

Isabella Lucy Bird was a nineteenth-century English explorer, writer, and a natural historian.-Early life:Bird was born in Boroughbridge in 1831 and grew up in Tattenhall, Cheshire...

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

Flag quilts

Another Hawaiian quilt style incorporates multiple copies of the Hawaiian flag

Flag of Hawaii

The flag of the state of Hawaii is the official standard symbolizing Hawaii as a U.S. state. The same flag had also previously been used by the kingdom, protectorate, republic, and territory of Hawaii...

 and commemorate the state's former independence as a sovereign kingdom

Kingdom of Hawaii

The Kingdom of Hawaii was established during the years 1795 to 1810 with the subjugation of the smaller independent chiefdoms of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lānai, Kauai and Niihau by the chiefdom of Hawaii into one unified government...

. 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.

Other Styles

Hawaiian quilters also made other styles of quilts including embroidering quilts and crazy quilting

Crazy quilting

The term "crazy quilting" is often used to refer to the textile art of crazy patchwork and is sometimes used interchangeably with that term. Crazy quilting does not actually refer to a specific kind of quilting , but a specific kind of patchwork...

. The most famous Hawaiian crazy quilt is the one made by Queen Liliuokalani 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

Provenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", refers to the chronology of the ownership or location of an historical object. The term was originally mostly used for works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and computing...

.

External links

• The Hawaii Quilt Guild

• The Queen's Quilt

• Quilting History of Hawaii

• Bishop Museum Quilt Database

• • http://www.nokaoimagazine.com/Features/Vol12%20No6/Hawaiian_quilts.html Article about Hawaiian quilters by Cheryl Tsutsumi. Maui No Ka 'Oi Magazine
    Maui No Ka 'Oi Magazine
    Maui Nō Ka Oi Magazine is a bi-monthly regional magazine published by the Haynes Publishing Group in Wailuku, Hawaii.The phrase Maui nō ka ʻoi means "Maui is unparallel" in the Hawaiian language. Maui Nō Ka Oi Magazine features stories relating to the culture, art, dining, environmental issues,...
    
    Vol. 12 No.6 (Nov 2008).