Fig. 43

Cut twenty-two pieces of No. 60 linen thread about six inches longer than you wish your belt to be. Tie a loop at one end of each piece and slip it over the round-headed tacks at one end of the loom. Bring the long ends one at a time through twenty-two of the notches at the top of the loom and stretch them across to the notches in the opposite end. Draw them taut and tie them through the screw eyes. These make the warp threads for the belt. As you will see by the pattern, the belt is twenty-one beads wide and you have twenty-two threads. This is so that there will be a thread on each side of every bead. Thread the needle with No. 90 white linen thread. Tie one end of it to the warp thread on the left (as you hold the loom with the end on which are the screw eyes toward you). Bring the needle out to the right below the warp strands, string twenty-one white beads and press them up between the warp strands, so that one bead will come between every two threads. Run the needle back from right to left through the beads, making sure that it goes above the warp threads. This makes one row. The whole belt is woven in the same way, except that when the figure begins the beads should be strung according to the pattern. For example, in making the first row of the pattern shown in Fig. 43, you will string nine white beads, three Indian-red ones and nine more of the white. The next two rows will be the same, and then you will string six white beads, three Indian-red, three blue, three Indian-red, and six white. Wax the thread you weave with, so that the sharp-edged beads will not cut it. In joining new needlefuls use the weaver's knot shown on p. 66. Armlets are woven in the same way, but much wider—about forty beads wide and long enough to go around the upper part of the arm. Tie them together with strips of chamois, knotted in with the ends of the warp strands. Head bands, bracelets and chains are also woven in this way.

Bead Wrought Indian Shirt

Materials Required: 1 large chamois skin,
2 smaller chamois skins,
1 spool white linen thread, No. 90,
A No. 11 needle,
½ bunch dark blue beads, No. 4-0,
½ bunch Indian red beads, No. 4-0,
½ bunch white opaque beads, No. 4-0,
28 large Indian red opaque beads.

Fig. 44

Although this shirt and the moccasins and leggings that go with it are so simple to make, you are almost sure to need the help of your mother or governess in planning and cutting them. The shirt is the size for a child of seven or eight, but it can easily be enlarged so as to fit a boy of twelve or fourteen. It is made by the pattern shown in Fig. 44, which is drawn on the scale of one inch to a foot. One large chamois skin and two of medium size will be needed. Double the large skin lengthwise to cut the upper part of the shirt. This should be ten inches deep and a yard wide. Cut at the centre a slit about nine inches long for the neck. The ends form the sleeves. Lay the two smaller skins together and cut from them the lower portion of the shirt. The back and front are alike, each measuring nineteen inches wide at the top, twenty-two inches at the bottom, and fifteen inches deep. Make a pencil mark at the centre of each lower edge of the upper part and one at the middle of the top of both of the lower pieces. Turn up an inch at each lower edge of the upper part of the shirt and baste the doubled edge of one side against the top of one of the lower parts, keeping the pencil marks at the middle of each together. Sew the edges together over and over with No. 90 white linen thread. Join the other side in the same way. The overlapping edges of the upper part of the shirt should be kept on the right side. Sew the sides of the shirt together with a row of backstitching, four inches from the edge. The edges are cut into a fringe four and a half inches deep at the ends of the sleeves and three inches on the sides and bottom of the shirt. The edges of the upper part which hangs over the lower are also cut into a short fringe. Work two narrow bands of bead embroidery round the neck, and if you like you can also work a band half way down the lower part of the shirt and one near the lower edge just above the fringe. They are made in this way: Thread a No. 11 needle with white linen thread and make a knot at the other end. Start at the right of the neck close to the edge. Bring the needle through to the outside of the shirt. String four beads, press them down close to the shirt and bring the needle through to the inside. This makes a stitch which runs up and down at right angles with the neck opening. Bring the needle out again on a line with the place where it went in and close beside it, string four more beads, bring it up and run it in again just at the left of where the work began (see Fig. 45). This simple stitch is the one that is most used by the Indians in embroidering their buckskin shirts, leggings and moccasins. String different colours, according to the pattern. Several designs for this work are shown in Figs. 46, 47 and 48. If you wish to decorate the shirt still more, cut strips of chamois about a quarter of an inch wide and five inches long, pierce a row of holes, two together, at intervals of an inch and three-quarters across the shirt (see Fig. 44), bring the strips of chamois through them and tie them once. String a large Indian-red bead on each end and tie a knot to keep it from falling off.