Ua ahu ka imu, e lāwalu ka iʻa
The oven is ready, let the fish wrapped in ti leaves be cooked.
All preparations have been made, now let us proceed with the work.
ʻŌlelo Noʻeau 2768
It takes nine months to even a year to complete a king size Hawaiian quilt and Poakalani always compared it to a pregnant woman who goes from morning sickness, swelling feet, heartburn and then labor but then at the end is a beautiful child and all that pain and labor is forgotten. Like a Hawaiian quilt, it’s painstakingly cutout, pin, basted, hand appliqued and quilted; from backaches, eye fatigue and tender fingers and joints, and when the quilt is finally finished you understand that making a Hawaiian quilt is also truly a labor of love.
With fabric purchased it was time to cut the quilt. This part of making the quilt can take several hours depending on the size and intricacy of the pattern.
First – you need to prep the fabric by folding the fabric into it’s 1/8th fold. It needs to be ironed on the folds so the creases are defined to help when it’s time to lay out the design on the backing fabric.
The paper pattern is than placed on the folded fabric and pinned. Using the 1/8 fold means you will be cutting through eight layers of fabric. A sharp scissors is highly recommended.
The center medallion of the pattern is laid to the center of the fabric. The lei section of the pattern is laid out above the center design.
After the pattern is cut out it is now laid out on the background fabric. If you look carefully the background fabric was also folded to it’s 1/8 fold and the folds pressed. These creases helps to lay out the design on the background fabric.
Only after the pattern is cut and placed on the background fabric you can finally remove the pins.
The pattern is then opened to its quarter fold. Please notice that the design is following the pressed lines.
After the pattern is laid out on the quarter fold, the design is then opened to its half fold. Lastly the pattern is opened to its full complete design and the same sequence is repeated for the lei.
After the design is completely opened and laid out the top design is pinned and basted to the background fabric.
Mahalo nui to Pat who found the time to cut, layout and pin the quilt. It takes time and patience.