Pineapple Hawaiian Quilt

The cotton Hawaiian quilt is 218.4 x 205.7 cm (86 x 81 in).

This extremely poplular pineapple desgin seems to be a variation on a Mountain Mist* pattern called "Hala Tree".  Copyrighted in 1947, by the then Stearns and Foster Company, the pattern name actually refers to the Pandanus tree or Screw Pine (Pu Hala) rather than to the pineapple (Hala 'ai or Hala kahiki).  All these names for the pattern appear in island collections.

This variation on the design has three leaves on the center pinapples rather than two, and the "eyes" of the pinapple are revealed through reverse applique.  The quilting pattern also is unusual, introducing a simple quatrefoil motif that forms a lei around the center and also appears in the corners of the border.  The Mountain Mist* pattern just suggested contour quilting.  

Second only to sugar cane in importance in the island economy, pineapple fields also dotted the rural landscape.  By the 1930's, 90% of the world's canned pineapple originated in Hawai'i at the Dole Pinepple Cannery in Honolulu where generations of high school students worked during summer vacations.  The Dole pineapple-shaped water tower built in 1927 and raising more than 100 feet about the ground, was one of the tallest structures on the Honolulu sky line before WWII.  And not surprisingly, a pineapple-patterned quilt was exhibited in the first Honolulu Star-Bulletin quilt show in 1931.

HoMA Object #: 6267.1