Fingerweaving
Sashes and garters were woven of commercial yarn in three or more colors, one of which was usually a deep red. Fingerweaving was a popular technique, in which the yarn strands were wound around a short stick in parallel rows and interlaced with one another. The one set of strands served as both warp and weft. Netting and braiding techniques were also used to make yarn sashes and garters. Women wore sashes around the waist as decorative belts to hold their dresses in place. The men wore them around the waist for decoration or to keep a deerskin jacket closed, but occasionally one was worn over the shoulder as a strap for a bag or wound around the head in turban fashion. Fingerwoven garters were worn just below the knee, by both men and women, to support the leggings.
Mats
Woven mats made of bulrushes were most common. They served as floor coverings and house partitions or were laid on the ground or floor for serving food, especially at feasts. Bulrushes were gathered in early summer, bleached, dried, and dyed. The ends of the rushes were braided to form an even edge and then hung from a crossbar between two posts set in the ground. A basswood cord weft was passed from left to right with the rushes twined around it. The weft rows were about a half inch apart, and the weaving progressed from top to bottom. A braided edge finished it off. Designs were usually geometric, but some zoomorphic motifs, particularly the thunderbird, could be used for smaller mats used for ceremonial purposes.
Where bulrushes were scarce, a similar kind of mat was woven from the inner bark of red cedar. This was gathered in May or June, and split into thin strips about a quarter inch wide. The weaving was done on a frame that resembled the one used for the bulrush mats, but the technique was a simple over-and-under weave.
Another type of mat was fabricated of cattails, but these were sewn rather than woven and were used to cover wigwams. The cattails were gathered in the fall, trimmed and carried home, where they were laid out in the sun to dry. The outer layer of each stalk was peeled off and the stalks were cut to even lengths and then laid parallel on a level stretch of ground. The ends of one edge were braided over a basswood cord. Another cord was threaded through a hole near the center of a curved mat-needle. This needle, a foot long, was made from the rib of either a buffalo or a cow. The needle was passed through the stalks, across the mat, at intervals of about six inches. From time to time, water was sprinkled on the stalks to keep them pliable. When the sewing was completed, the ends were braided over a cord. The mat was rolled up and stored until needed. Mats of this type were used to cover the lower walls of wigwams, while sewn bark mats were used to cover the top. Tribes father south-where birchbark was not available-covered the entire wigwam with larger mats.
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