Hawaiian quilting is being featured in a nationwide “Quilt Along” event to mark America’s 250th Anniversary.
What is a quilt along? It’s a free virtual event where quilters work off the same patterns and sew at their own pace.
The event is organized by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, which commissioned patterns from five Indigenous quilters to mark different eras in American history.
July 1 marked the release of the second pattern. It’s designed by Cissy Serrao, a 4th-generation Hawaiian quilter, teacher and cultural practitioner.
To learn more about the quilt along and the story behind the craft of Native Hawaiian quilting, HPR spoke with Serrao and Smithsonian specialist Inger de Montecinos.
For Serrao, the quilt along was an opportunity for her to continue the joy of teaching and sharing the craft of Native Hawaiian quilting with the world.
“I was very happy to join this group of Native Americans and Native Hawaiians, because in our tradition of Hawaiian quilts, it's all about the story,” Serrao told HPR.
“Hawaiian quilting is such a small niche that anytime we can share what we do to everyone else, we're very proud that we are able to do that.”
Montecinos explained that the quilt along event would release a total of four block designs, each one dedicated to a different era of American history, that would be free and publicly available for participants to sew on their own.
She explained why she invited Serrao to contribute a block representing Native Hawaiian heritage.
“When I was searching for artists for native quilt artists and designers, I really wanted to make sure I captured the broad geographic diversity that we have in the Native communities in the United States,” Montecinos said.
The design that Cissy Serrao created and contributed to the event is titled “Kanani O Ka Home.” She told HPR that it was inspired by a vintage Hawaiian quilt from her great grandmother’s collection, and that it told the story of a daughter leaving her home on the islands to live on the continental U.S.
“Quilting is just not about sewing, it's a community of friendship,” Serrao said, reflecting on the piece.
“And that's why we do it. We want to show people what we do, who we are, not just as a quilting group, but as a community, as a friendship, and we will continue that as long as we can.”
Cissy Serrao continues to teach Hawaiian quilting through her Poakalani Hawaiian Quilting Classes, which can be found here.
More information about the quilt along and Serrao’s design, “Kanani O Ka Home,” can be found on the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian website.
This story aired on The Conversation on July 1, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
