The woman’s frock differs from that worn by the men, in the shape of the hood and skirts, as mentioned above, and it is also slightly fitted in to the waist and made to “bag” somewhat in the back, in order to give room for carrying the child. The pattern is considerably different from that of the man’s frock, as will be seen from the description of the type specimen (the only one in the collection), No. 74041 [1791] (Fig. 61, a and b), which is of deerskin. The hood is raised into a little point on top and bulges out into a sort of rounded pocket at the nape. This is a holiday garment, made of strips of skin from the shanks and belly of the reindeer, pieced together so as to make a pattern of alternating light and dark stripes. The pattern is shown in the diagram, Fig. 62. The sleeves are of the same pattern as those of No. 56751 [184]. The edge of the hood is bound with deerskin, hair outwards. Trimming: a strip of edging (Fig. 63) in which the light stripes are clipped white mountain sheepskin, the dark pipings brown, almost hairless, fawnskin, and the tags red worsted, is inserted in the seam between 7 on each side and 6 and 2, and a similar strip between the inner edge of 3, 2, 7, 9, and 1. A broader strip of similar insertion, fringed below with marten fur, with the flesh side out and colored red, runs along the short seam ffff. The seam between 9 and 7 has a narrow piping of thin brown deerskin, tagged with red worsted. A strip of edging, without tags and fringed with marten fur (Fig. 64), is inserted in the seam gggg. The border of the skirt is 1 inch wide (Fig. 64). The dark stripe is brown deerskin, the white, mountain sheep, and the fur, marten, with the red flesh side out. The fringes are double strips of white deerskin sewed to the inside of the last seam, about 3 inches apart. The shoulder straps are of edging like that at g, but have the fur sewed on so as to show the red flesh side. The hood has a fringe of wolfskin sewed to the outside of the binding. This frock measures 45 inches in the back, 32 in the front, 19 across the shoulders, and 17 at the waist. The skirts are 21 inches wide, the front 18, and the back 20 inches long. The pieces 7, 8, and 9 of the hood are white. This is an unusually handsome garment.
Fig. 62.—Pattern of woman’s frock.
Fig. 63.—Detail of edging, woman’s frock.
Deerskin garments rarely have the ornamental piecing seen in this frock. Each one of the numbered parts of the pattern is generally in one piece. The pieces 8 and 9 are almost universally white, and 7 is often so. About the same variety in material and trimming is to be found as in the men’s frocks, though deer and mountain sheep skins were the only materials seen used, and the women’s frocks are less often seen without the fringe round the hood. Plain deerskin frocks are often bordered round the skirts with a fringe cut from deerskin. The women nowadays often line the outer frock with drilling, bright calico, or even bedticking, and then wear it with this side out.
