Hello! I have a stack of dresses that my mom made when we lived in Hawaii. They are Hawaiian print. There is approximately 1.5 to 2 yrds of fabric in each dress (and a couple of the dresses have matching shirts for my dad) and there are 9 or 10 dresses. I found these in a trunk while cleaning out my mom's house after she passed away. I would like to make quilts out of them for my two sisters and myself. Most of the fabric is red or orange or dark blue. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what type of quilt I should make? No matter what the pattern is, I will do meandering overall quilting (stipple quilting?).

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.

Cathy

Those prints are fairly large so I would go with something simple like a 5-6 inch block with sashings. A large Ohio star might be nice also. I'm assuming there is alot of white in these prints so maybe use white for sashings.(?)

Others may have suggestions also.

Enjoy

Why not pick a Hawaiian needle turned pattern? You could do multiple small blocks of different fabrics then put them all together as two larger quilts.

Oh yeah, the Ohio Star might work perfectly! I could supplement with fabrics from my stash and use the dress fabric for the rest. I could make several blocks using each of the different fabrics and then incorporate them into a quilt. I could even alternate Ohio Star with a plain square. Now I can hardly wait to get started!

Thank you sew much for the suggestion!

Cathy

Sounds like you are on your way! I hope we get to see the results when you are done, :wink:

Can't wait to see! Just so you know, the old Hawaiian fabrics are highly sought after and go for a lot of money. What a great find! :)

I think large pieces would be good too.

Sounds like you have gotten some help. Just wanted to welcome you to the board from Southern California!

are they cotton or rayon? they were often made of rayon. it doesn't matter if the fabric is all the same, but rayon frays badly.

I lived in Hawaii also ('61-'64) and remember the Hawaiian print. My Mom made shirts for my brother and I. I'm always on the look out for the fabric but haven't found that old school look. Good luck on the quilt. I'm anxious to see pictures of the finished project!