Breadfruit, called 'ulu, belongs to the holy trinity of plant food staples — the others being taro and sweet potato — that traditional Hawaiians prized and employed on a daily basis.

'Ulu was a source of medicine, building material and trade goods as well as food, particularly in famine times when other plants might not be available. Hanging high on its tree, 'ulu is a metaphor for a high-ranking person, or something desirable but out of reach.

A Hawaiian saying, 'A'ohe 'ulu e loa'a i ka pokole o ka lau, compares success without preparation to trying to pick 'ulu with too short a stick.

So it's not surprising that 'ulu has been a source of inspiration to makers of Hawaiian quilts, as well as a symbolic spur, especially to those new to the art. Today the Mission Houses Museum's 27th annual quilt exhibition opens, "Ho'oulu i Ka Nani: The Breadfruit Quilts of Hawai'i," featuring 20 quilts and related artwork all on an 'ulu theme. An 'Ulu Festival is also being planned.

Co-curator Margo Vitarelli said the idea came from longtime quilter Margo Morgan, who was interested in seeing side-by-side interpretations of this common pattern.

Morgan, who began quilting about 50 years ago, says she's got at least a half-dozen 'ulu patterns and has made three 'ulu quilts, including a rare pair designed for twin beds (there are few patterns cut to fit twin beds). A no-nonsense sort who says she likes quilting because she grew up in a family that believed in keeping your hands busy, Morgan doesn't go in much for symbolism.

But some quilters do, and the 'ulu is the source of a widely held belief in quilting circles.

SOUL SATISFACTION

Gussie Bento, who has been quilting for more than 40 years, says her first teacher, the late Kepola Kakalia, taught that if a beginner's first quilt employed an 'ulu pattern, they would never hunger for wisdom and their artistry would grow like the prolific fruit. Another respected teacher with whom Bento worked, the late Meali'i Kalama, also preached the 'ulu doctrine.

But Bento had already been quilting for some years — albeit self-taught and not doing a very good job of it — before she met Kakalia, so her first quilt wasn't an 'ulu. Even Kakalia's first quilt wasn't an 'ulu.

But Bento says there's another and very practical reason to make an 'ulu quilt first: The design is easier to applique because it has longer, more fluid lines and fewer sharp curves or corners, all of which require more skilled needlework. While she doesn't insist that her students start with breadfruit, she does suggest using a pattern that's not going to give them fits, and 'ulu is certainly one of those.

"I think whatever you start with should be something that reaches your soul, but also something you are likely to be able to finish," said Bento. For many, 'ulu fits both bills.

Morgan and Bento are links in a chain back to a previous generation of quilters. Morgan, who was living out in Ka'a'awa at the time, learned the basic stitches from a Hawaiian woman, Maggie Gorai. Her first quilt was a red ginger, probably because red and white were among the few fabric colors at nearby Kaya's Store. Bento tried to teach herself to quilt and then became part of a small Saturday morning quilting group that Kakalia taught in her Kalihi home; the women paid $3 a session to this modest woman who would become a widely acknowledged expert.

NEW AND OLD IDEAS

A hallmark of Hawaiian quilting is applique: placing one piece of fabric atop another, painstakingly rolling an eighth-inch or so of fabric under and securing the edges with tiny stitches, Vitarelli said. The other characteristics that personify Hawaiian quilting are floral motifs (although others, such as the Hawaiian flag, subject of a previous quilt exhibition, are also popular) and quilting in an echo pattern, like ripples in water spreading out from the design.

Vitarelli said that while the idea of quilting was introduced by missionary wives, Hawaiians made it their own. They already had the custom of decorating their kapa moe, sleeping blankets made of mulberry bark cloth, using wooden stamps in designs drawn from nature (duck's tracks, shark's teeth), but in a sharp-edged, linear way.

Those nameless pioneers put the new and old ideas together: sewing with thread on fabric, and decorations based on cultural symbols. Hawaiian quilting was a result.

The exhibit quilts — which cover a range of years so as to show how quilting has changed and evolved — were gathered with the aid of the Hawaiian Quilt Research Project, which has been documenting old quilts for 15 years or so. Bento was one of the women who worked the Quilt Days, which were the means by which quilts were identified: People would bring their precious old quilts, many beginning to break down and fray, to be photographed and documented. Now it's easier for curators to find and borrow quilts for exhibits and such.

Vitarelli said the exhibition's name, Ho'oulu I Ka Nani, "the beauty of growth," is a sort of play on the words ulu (growth, sprouting, being born, replenishing, sustenance) and 'ulu (breadfruit) and also on the idea of the 'ulu as an inspiration and a source of growth in quilting skill.

Reach Wanda A. Adams at wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.