At 07:48 AM 9/30/2009, you wrote:
What kinds of fibers would the scraelings have had to weave with?
They didn't have sheep for wool, did they? And linen is an Old World
crop and cotton doesn't grow that far north, as far as I know. I am
completely ignorant of Native American costume from that region, so
what would they have made clothes and blankets out of?
Tea Rose
They primarily used skins and furs (no weaving needed); sewing would
have been primarily with sinew from deer and elk. There are various
sources of bast (i.e., stem) fibers available; they were sufficient
for string and cords and such, not for weaving large items. All were
available from non-domesticated sources.
The First Nation peoples were familiar with weaving mats of various
sorts as well as baskets. Until the introduction of European
domesticates (both animal and vegetable), the fiber sources were
small and "cloth" was not woven in the northeastern areas. In the
southwest, cotton (originally from Mexico/Central America) was grown,
spun, and woven into cloth. Cotton was the indigenous domesticated
vegetable fiber of the Americas, but it was not available
everywhere. In the Northwest (British Columbia/Washington) coastal
areas, a small breed of dog was used for fiber as well as food. The
Chilkat blankets were finger-woven on a type of warp-weighted frame
for twining; the warp was typically shredded cedar bark. The study
of fibers, spinning, and weaving in the Americas is a fascinating
field (especially for someone like me who is very involved in
spinning and weaving and wants to learn everything about the history
of fiber and fabric :-)).
Joan Jurancich
[email protected]
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