Wedding trade. The women's family traded dried roots in root bags and dried berries in berry baskets. Alalimteeyik, grandmother of Mr. Moses Thomas. Courtesy, Rev. H. L. Sugden, Lapwai, Idaho, c. 1900.
This bag uses Indian hemp twine for its foundation fabric and cornhusk cord for its decorative motifs. One side of the bag features a design with colored diagonal bands that were made using natural red, blue and green dyes, while the other side…
Twined belts with fold-over purses are typically worn by women as part of their fancy dress regalia. This example is beautifully embroidered with floral and foliate designs whose intricacy is reminiscent of needlepoint.
Not to be mistaken for tourist trinkets, personal ornaments like these earrings provide a way for Native women to both “wear” their identity and show off the virtuosity of the weaver’s craft.
Nine squares containing star motifs provide an example of an overall design pattern that utilizes many colors and shapes on a plain twined bag that is completed with a leather handle.
This bag features a dramatic banded design that is embroidered in a zig-zag motif with brightly colored yarns in purple, red, green, turquoise and black.
Cornhusk embroidery on this bag forms an X-shaped design that is complemented by outlining and the use of variable color hues that add dimension to the centralized design.
The intricate design of roosters, eagles, and butterflies embroidered in colorful woolen yarns on this early 20th century handbag is quite unusual and must have had special meaning for the weaver who created it.
More commonly seen in beaded bags than in twined ones, this patriotic eagle and shield motif may have been designed for a Native American veteran of the United States armed forces.