Cedar bark textile
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2008) |
Cedar bark textile was used by indigenous people in the Pacific Northwest region of modern-day Canada and the United States. Historically, most items of clothing were made of this material.
The name of the trees which provide the bark material are of the genus Thuja, which has two species redcedar and cypress which are both known by the common name 'cedar' in North America. After the western redcedar or yellow cypress (often called "yellow cedar") bark was peeled in long strips from the trees, the outer layer was split away, and the flexible inner layer was shredded and processed. The resulting felted strips of bark were soft and could be plaited, sewn or woven into a variety of fabrics that were either dense and watertight, or soft and comfortable.[1]
Women wore skirts and capes of redcedar bark, while men wore long capes of cedar bark into which some mountain goat wool was woven for decorative effect.[2]
See also
References
- ^ Emmons, George Thornton. The Tlingit Indians (Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History). p. 222.
- ^ Stewart, Hilary. Cedar: Tree of Life to the Northwest Coast Indians. University of Washington Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0295974484.
External links
Media related to Cedar bark textile at Wikimedia Commons
 | This article about textiles is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |