Quilting Shops on Oahu
 

Hi there! My husband just finished up a 4 year Naval billet at Pearl Harbor on Oahu. My two favorite stores are The Calico Cat and Kaimuki Dry Goods, both within a 5 minute drive of each other and about 15 minutes or so from the main drag of Waikiki. The Calico Cat is tiny and stuffed to the brim with quilting cottons, notions and patterns and the owner, Carol, is the most chatty, helpful and kind shopkeeper I have come across. Kaimuki Dry Goods is much larger with dedicated parking and the staff is a lot less friendly (although I've never had a real issue with them). Kaimuki Dry Goods has some great preassembled Hawaiian quilt kits as well as a lot of Hawaiian print fabric choices. Anyway, I hope I'm not too late with my recommendations. I absolutely adored Hawaii and fell in love with quilting there. When my husband retires I hope to make it our permanent home. Enjoy your vacation and post pictures of your finds!!!

The Calico Cat: //www.thecalicocathawaii.com/

Kaimuki Dry Goods:
http://www.kaimukidrygoods.com/

Erin

Be sure to go to Fabric Mart...I went to the one on Maui and it was so much fun! A little claustrophobic, but fabrics are reasonable. They also have a lot of Hawaiian fabrics for clothing...I brought back 15 yards of fabric for patio curtains...I found some that would not (and haven't) fade in the sun. I am still happy with them after 4 years.

This is the go to class on Oahu.

http://www.poakalani.net/ Look on left for calendar of classes.

It is the Saturday one. The class is at the beautiful Iolani Palace grounds in the Old Archives Building. You'll have to maybe circle it a little to find how to get in.

Cissy teaches it and her dad John Serrao the famous Hawaiian quilt pattern designer used to often be there. Look at the instructions as what to bring to class so you can start your project. This is a regular class and many of the islander and or Japanese snow birds take it so you can have a bit of a new comer feel but Cissy and John will make you feel at home. I was privileged over the years to have taken some classes and count it is one of my best experiences.

I always go to Fabricmart and have also gone to some of the quilt shops. At Fabricmart they will have the cottons in one section, poly cottons in another and yet another section for none cottons.

Remember the quilt shops will have many fabrics we have on the mainland too.

On the Big Island there is a quilt store in Volcano. If you happen to be there when it is open it is nice to stop by but in my opinion not worth planning around or making a separate trip. It is out of the way. Also it is cold in Volcano. Yes, there are places in Hawaii that are cold. I was ill prepared when I was there with a 3 month old and we both had inadequate clothing as we had just come from Oahu.

Many of the museums will have quilts on Oahu and in Hilo, Big Island.