Contemporary Makers: Wool Trade Cloth in the Collection of The National Museum of the American Indian

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Wool Trade Cloth in the Collection of The National Museum of the American Indian

Ponca Dress

This hand-stitched woman's dress is made of medium-weight, coarse red and blue wool cloth. The bodice of the dress is red and the skirt is blue. The white selvedge of the blue cloth is visible at the side seams and hem of the skirt. The dress has a high waistline and 3/4 length sleeves. The entire bodice is lined with a printed, plain-woven cotton fabric that is white with small red dots. The neckline is finished with blue and white plain-woven cotton gingham binding and the sleeve edges are embellished with black silk satin ribbon. The entire front and back of the bodice is covered with blue and white striped beadwork that is stitched directly to the red wool cloth in the "lazy stitch." There are beaded panels along the tops of the shoulders, which are executed on a different red wool cloth than the rest of the bodice. The black and white striped selvedges of these panels are visible at the neckline. These panels have opaque white beadwork in a geometric and linear pattern. Below the shoulder panels are two rows of tubular glass beads with painted silver metallic interiors. There are applied semi-tanned hide fringes stitched around the dress just above the waistline. The fringes are strung with opaque white and black tubular glass beads.

The style of this dress is uncharacteristic for this time periods and it resembles Blackfeet dress styles. The narrow red shoulder bands were not visually characterized because the weave structure is obscured by the beadwork and there are no areas that could be sampled for dye identification. However, this cloth did fluoresced bright orange under UV light. It appears as though these bands were recycled from another object. They resemble beaded bands on bags made in the Great Lakes region.

Wool, cotton, semi-tanned hide, glass beads

Selvedge Magnified

There are two cloths being examined on this dress. Cloth A is the red wool cloth that the bodice is primarily constructed from. It is a heavyweight wool plain weave with no visible selvedge.

Blackfeet or Siksika Textile Square

This object is a small rectilinear medium-weight, red wool textile that is hand-stitched. The white selvedges are visible in the center seam beneath a strip of zigzag cut red cloth, which is stitched over the seam. The textile is embellished with curvilinear, floral beadwork that is stitched to the red cloth. The red wool is entirely lined with a white, plain-woven cotton cloth. All of the outer edges are finished with a dark blue twill woven binding.

This cloth may be portions of a recycled men's apron. The beadwork motifs are more characteristic of Plains Cree or Ojibwa than Blackfeet or Siksika.

Wool, cotton, glass beads

Selvedge Magnified

The cloth being examined is a red wool cloth that the object is primarily constructed of. It is a medium-weight plain weave with a white selvedge.

The white selvedge of this cloth is resist-dyed. The resist-stitch holes are visible at the dye line.

Fox Dance Bustle

Description: This dance bustle is primarily constructed from a coarse red wool cloth. However, the foundation at the top back of the bustle is made of a thick piece of yellow and red painted rawhide, which appears to be a recycled portion of a parfleche. There is finely woven red wool cloth covering the foundation of the bustle and several semi-tanned hide thong straps that function as a means of attachment for the wearer. The bustle has two long red wool trailers, which are almost entirely covered with black feathers. The white selvedges of this cloth are visible at the bottoms of the trailers. There are two spikes extending from the top of the bustle that are heavily embellished with: black horse hair wrapping, dyed quills, dyed white tail deer fur, feathers, semi-tanned hide fringes, white metal cone tinklers, dew claws, glass beads and fur. There are also three white metal broaches attached to the top of the bustle.

Dance bustles like this one are usually made with eagle, hawk, or owl feathers. This object tested negative for arsenic residue. Test locations are noted in the object file.

Wool, rawhide, semi-tanned hide, feathers, horsehair, quills, white metal, horn, fur, glass beads

Selvedge Magnified

Both red cloths on the bustle are being examined. Cloth A is the red cloth of the trailers that has a white selvedge. It is a medium-weight, coarse balanced plain weave. Cloth B is the red cloth that is covering the foundation at the top of the bustle. This cloth is lighter in weight and more finely woven that the cloth described above. It is also a balanced plain weave.

The white selvedge of Cloth A is resist-dyed. The resist-stitch holes are visible at the dye line. Cloth B does not have any visible selvedge edges.

Nez Perce or Sahaptin Quiver

This very large and heavy quiver has a long outer panel made primarily from hand-stitched pieced course red wool cloth, which is entirely lined with lightweight, plain-woven cotton. The selvedge is visible along the bottom edges of the outer panel. Fur pelts (that appear to be otter) are stitched to the entire panel. There is beadwork in diagonal lines and chevrons in opaque blue and white beads in on the face of the red wool cloth. Tubular pendants hang from the center sides of the outer panel. The pendants are heavily beaded with geometric motifs executed in "lazy stitch" on semi-tanned hide. The top and bottom edges of the pendants are trimmed with red wool cloth binding. There are long fur trailers hanging from the bottom of each pendant. The pendants are stitched to the outer panel and the quivers with semi-tanned hide thongs. There are short green, red, yellow, and blue ribbon streamers stitched to the animal pelts on the outer panel. The bow case and quiver are located beneath the outer panel are constructed from animal pets stitched into a tubular bags. The top openings are finished with striped beadwork in "lazy stitch" on semi-tanned hide that was applied to the opening edges of the quivers. Each quiver has a long geometric beadwork panel attached at the opening. The quiver panels were beaded and edged with red wool cloth in the same techniques described above. The bottoms of the quivers are also decorated with beadwork and have fur trailers similar to the tubular beaded pendants on the outer panel. The quivers are stitched together and to the outer panel with semi-tanned hide thongs.

A horseback rider would have worn this quiver over the shoulder. This piece is rare and that few of such quality exist in museum collections. This object tested negative for arsenic residue. Test locations are noted in the object file.