Description
About Your Plains Indian Cloth Dress Pattern
Plains Indian Women’s clothing styles have remained basically unchanged over the last 100 years. This conservative attitude is further reflected in dress styles being straight cut & rather long by todays standards.
Materials varied from a light cotton calico, popular for everyday wear, to the fancier and more expensive velvet, wool stroud cloth, or the ultimate: rainbow selvedge broadcloth. Many times the upper portion of dresses made with these heavy materials were cotton lined, especially when the yoke was decorated with elk teeth, dentalium or cowrie shells. This made the dress more attractive as well as providing extra support for the decorations.
Our pattern will make a basic Comanche or Sioux style dress. Information is also included to allow easy modification to any of the following styles as well: Blackfoot, Crow, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache or Plateau.
For additional ideas on design variations such as shell placement, ribbon decorations, etc., we strongly recommend that you visit your local museums and examine existing specimens. It is also advisable to study old photographs as well as the fine photos found in museum and exhibition catalogs such as, “The American Indian – The American Flag”, “American Indian Art”…”Form & Tradition, American Indian Art” by Norman Feder…”Circles of the World” and “A Persistent Vision”.
Notions & Tools
Needles, thread, 1 yd. of ¼” or 3/8” ribbon, seam binding, 3½ yds. of ½” or 5/8” ribbon.
Material Requirements
Note: The length of the finished dress will depend on the height of the person wearing it. Sizes indicated here are for an average height of 5’ to 5’4”. A taller person may require more fabric, so check your pattern before purchasing your fabric.
Suggested Materials
For an everyday dress, a cotton print material such as calico is appropriate, while a formal occasion would call for the use of a finer quality material. For those occasions, a cotton blend or satin in a stripe, solid or print would be an excellent choice. For very special occasions, velvet or broadcloth with a rainbow selvedge edge is the ultimate choice.
