After my dad passed away in the late 1990s I helped Mother distribute his clothing. I kept quite of few of his shirts knowing that I would one day want to make quilts. There were Sunday dress shirts, flannel hunting shirts, dark green uniform shirts, and Hawaiian shirts.
Dad and Mother met in the Hawaiian Territories in the late 1940s. He was working at Pearl Harbor as a welder and she was working for the Dept. of Defense at Hickam Air Field. They married, had my brother, and soon had to leave after a shipping strike ended Dad's income. They never got Hawaii out of their system, cherishing their memories of a beautiful place and wonderful times. They were able to visit us in Hawaii three times when we were stationed there with the Army in the 1980s. We also sent them back for a multi-island tour on their 50th wedding anniversary.
The first upcycled quilt was for Mother, using the Hawaiian shirts. These were from the 1980s era, several that I sent Dad from Hawaii. The red one I made, a polyester matching shirt for Dad and muu muu for Mother. Dad's original Hawaiian shirts from the '40s were long gone - a later regretted Goodwill donation by Mother. Those shirts would be quite valuable now, and Dad missed them and talked about them occasionally.
Mother passed away last year and I now have the Hawaiian quilt. I display it in June around Father's Day. It's a real treasure.
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. " Matthew 6:28-29
Mother passed away last year and I now have the Hawaiian quilt. I display it in June around Father's Day. It's a real treasure.
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. " Matthew 6:28-29