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February 16, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kapa Moe

Hawaiian bark cloth was originally called kapa which literally translates to “the beaten thing.” Kapa was used for clothing, bed covers, items of trade and gift items, indicators of wealth and status and objects of ceremonial or religious events. (Romanchak)

Clothing consisted of three main items of apparel: the pāʻū or skirt for the women, the malo or loincloth for men and the Kihei or shawl for members of both sexes. (Romanchak)

Most kapa was made from the inner bark of the wauke plant (paper mulberry) because it made soft, white kapa. The bark is stripped, soaked, and then compressed into sheets with special patterned wooden beaters and finally dyed and decorated.

To make kapa, Hawaiian women used wooden mallets to pound the strips of bark together to form sheets of various sizes, textures, and thicknesses.

The kapa sheets were then decorated with stamps and painted with brushes made from the seed of the hala (pandanus) tree; kapa was colored by native dyes and decorated with block printing. (Arthur)

For bed covers, Hawaiian women made kapa moe consisting of five sheets of kapa. The top sheet was decorated, but the four sheets underneath were plain white kapa. The set of five sheets were sewn together on one side with thread made with strips of kapa. (Arthur)

The top layer was known as the kilohana, it was colored and decorated with pigments; the collective name for the inner kapa sheets was ‘iho.’ (Brigham) The loose-leaf design allowed the user to choose how many layers needed on a given night.

“(T)apa moe (sleeping cloth), made principally for the chiefs, who use it to wrap themselves in at night, while they sleep. It is generally three or four yards square, very thick, being formed of several layers of common tapa, cemented with gum, and beaten with a grooved mallet till they are closely interwoven. The colour is various, either white, yellow, brown or black according to the fancy of its owner.” (Brigham)

“During the ordinary summer weather along the coast the native use of the kapa moe in a close grass house would have been impossible to a white man, so warm is this covering. Sleeping in an open cave on the summit of Mauna Loa (13,675 ft) …”

“… I could not bear a kapa moe over my ordinary clothes, although water was freezing in the calabashes at my feet. In the morning the bedmaking in a native house consisted in carefully folding the kapa moe and putting it in a safe place.” (Brigham)

A notable kapa moe belonging to Princess Kaʻiulani was installed at the Art of the Pacific gallery at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (not currently on public view.) it is described as an unusually large five-layer kapa moe.

Kaeppler noted that the design of Kaʻiulani’s kapa moe may metaphorically incorporate the saying, “He aliʻi ke aloha, he kilohana e paʻa ai,” “Love is like a chief, the best prize to hold fast to,” in honor of Kaʻiulani. One corner of an underside white layer of the kapa is signed “Kaiulani.”

Kapa moe were gradually replaced by blankets. Later, another bed cover, the Hawaiian quilt, came into regular use.

The wives of American missionaries introduced the patchwork quilts and their construction to Hawaiians. The first missionary women arrived in 1820, and were warmly welcomed by some of the highest-ranking Hawaiian men and women.

Lucy Thurston, the wife of Asa, one of the first missionaries, recorded in her journal: “Monday morning, April 3rd (1820,) the first sewing circle was formed that the sun ever looked down upon in his Hawaiian realm. Kalākua, queen-dowager was directress.”

“She requested all the seven white ladies to take seats with them on mats, on the deck of the Thaddeus. Mrs. Holman and Mrs. Ruggles were executive officers to ply the scissors and prepare the work….The four native women of distinction were furnished with calico patchwork to sew – a new employment to them.” (Thurston)

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Hawaiian Traditions Tagged With: Hawaii, Thaddeus, Kaiulani, Kapa, Hawaiian Quilt, Lucy Thurston, Kapa Moe, Malo, Pau

May 12, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sewing Circles

Long before Western explorers and missionaries arrived in the Polynesian islands, many traditional crafts existed in Hawai‘i that set the stage for the development of its unique style of quilting.

Among other things, Hawaiians were skilled in the creation of kapa (tapa,) clothing or bedding made from the bark of the wauke (paper mulberry) plant.

It is thought that kapa technique – involving the pounding together of strips of bark to form sheets of different textures, which are then colorfully decorated by pen with various dyes – provided the foundation upon which Hawaiian quilting was eventually built.

The use of stitchery in Hawai‘i is documented as early as 1809. After contact, Western and Chinese cloth and silk became available as trade with the islands opened up. Cotton was grown on Maui and O‘ahu in the 19th century, but cotton gins for processing were quite rare.

When missionaries from New England arrived in 1820, the missionary women brought with them their quilts (mostly as keepsakes.) Missionary women helped Hawaiian women to learn to sew in the European style.

“One of the former queens had before requested that our wihenes would make her a gown like their own, was told that it was the Lord’s day, and that they would make it tomorrow.” (April 2, 1820, Thaddeus Journal)

The next day, the first Hawaiian sewing circle was held on the decks of the Thaddeus, “Kalakua brought a web of white cambric to have a dress made for herself in the fashion of our ladies, and was very particular in her wish to have it finished while sailing along the western side of the island, before reaching the king.”

“Monday morning April 3d (1820,) the first sewing circle was formed that the sun ever looked down upon in the Hawaiian realm. Kalakua was directress. She requested all the seven white ladies to take seats with them on mats, on the deck of the Thaddeus.”

“Mrs Holman and Mrs Ruggles were executive officers to ply the scissors and prepare the work … The four native women of distinction were furnished with calico patchwork to sew – a new employment for them.”

“The dress was made in the fashion of 1819. The length of the skirt accorded with Brigham Young’s rule to his Mormon damsels, – have it come down to the tops of the shoes. But in the queen’s case, where the shoes were wanting, the bare feet cropped out very prominently.” (Lucy Thurston, part of the Pioneer Company)

“These were made in the style then prevailing, a very deep yoke, with a short bodice, belted at the waist, and a full skirt. The chiefess was a huge woman, and a belt was found to be impracticable, so the ladles instead gathered the loose skirt on to the yoke.”

“The native women were so delighted with the now garb, so much more convenient than their own, that they at once gave It the name holoku, expressive of the fact that in it they had perfect freedom of motion.”

“The holoku is exactly like the ‘Mother Hubbard gown’ that had such a painful popularity in our country some years ago. It is, to-day, the regulation costume of the Hawaiian women.”

“They wear it at church and on shopping expeditions, in the park and on state occasions, and, this delightful climate permitting such scantiness of attire, it is not an uncommon thing to meet upon Fort street an old woman of the poorer class whose holoku is her sole garment.” (San Francisco Call, March 19, 1893)

“All the women wore the native dress, the sack or holoku, many of which were black, blue, green, or bright rose color, some were bright yellow, a few were pure white, and others were a mixture of orange and scarlet.” Isabella Bird 1894

“At first the holoku, which is only a full, yoke nightgown, is not attractive, but I admire it heartily now, and the sagacity of those who devised it.”

“It conceals awkwardness, and befits grace of movement; it is fit for the climate, is equally adapted for walking and riding, and has that general appropriateness which is desirable in costume.” (Isabella Bird, 1894)

Quilting in Hawai‘i back in 1820s was done in the patchwork style. The Hawaiian women tediously cut the material into the patchwork squares and sewed them back together as they were taught by the missionaries.

It is theorized that Hawaiian women gradually began incorporating elements of tapa design into patchwork quilts, and soon discarded the patchwork approach altogether in favor of the appliqué quilt.

A traditional Hawaiian quilt is a bed sized quilt that is completely an appliquéd design. The design is cut out of one square piece of fabric with a repeat of 8.

The appliqué fabric is folded in half, or three times and all 8 layers are cut out at the same time, then opened out, like a “snowflake”. Usually the designs are symbolic of the flowers, trees or places in Hawai‘i.

The designing of a quilt was a very personal thing. Women occasionally shared their designs with a special friend or relative, but copying a quilt without permission was very much frowned upon.

Many believed that the spirit of the person creating and stitching the quilt became an integral part of the finished work, giving it an added dimension – a sense of life.

Each quilt was given a name, often reflecting the inspiration behind the design. These intriguing quilts have survived as they were only used for special occasions and then passed on from generation to generation.

Four methods of constructing and designing a quilt, when combined, make the Hawaiian quilting process unique:

  • use of whole pieces of fabric for the appliqué and background;
  • the “snowflake” method of cutting the design all at one time;
  • the use of usually only two colors of fabric; and
  • the echo, or outline style of quilting which follows the contour of the applied design throughout the entire quilt

The image shows my mother with quilts she made for her grandchildren; they are made in the patchwork tradition her great-great grandmother (Sybil Bingham) and the other missionary wives used in 1820 when teaching sewing aboard the Thaddeus and later. (I also added to the album our recent addition, a quilt bed cover at our Colorado house.)

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Filed Under: General, Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, Hawaiian Traditions Tagged With: Hawaii, Sybil Bingham, Missionaries, Kapa, Hawaiian Quilt

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People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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