Komo mai kau māpuna hoe.
Put in your dip of the paddle.
Pitch In.
ʻŌlelo Noʻeau 1816
Poakalani and John Serrao started formally teaching Hawaiian quilting in the early 1980ʻs. Their classes not only taught Hawaiian quilting but also Hawaiiʻs culture and traditions especially the concept of ʻOhana” family. Whether related by blood or not the Poakalani ʻOhana is a quilting family of many shared values especially the concept of kokua – always helping when the need arises, especially when laying out, pinning and basting a quilt.
After the design is laid out and pinned to the background fabric the basting begins. It’s nice to have many quilters helping with this part of the quilt. It can take 3 – 4 hours but with many hands the time is cut in half.
Some people like to glue, some even use safety pins but many of us in the Poakalani class prefer the needle and thread basting method. All you need to do is baste 1/4 inch in from the edge of the design. It’s a temporary stitch so pretty and neat is not a requisite.
Completely basted and now ready for needle turn applique.