Women's dress.

—The ordinary dress of the Pueblo women is fashioned from a blanket of hand-woven woolen stuff which is dark brown, black, or blue. The brown and black are natural colors from the great number of brown and black sheep in the Indian flocks;^[39] the blue was first obtained by dyeing the wool with indigo and later with aniline dyes.

This blanket is about four feet long and about three and one-half feet wide, a width sufficient to reach from the shoulder to the middle of the

lower leg. The weave is a twill in which use is made of the diagonal pattern for the body of the dress and a diamond pattern for the two borders, which are seven inches wide at top and bottom. These borders must both be completed before the center is begun, because of the complicated heddle setup required for the diamond weave. One border is finished and then the entire loom is inverted for the completion of the second border. Subsequently, the diagonal pattern is set up with a new heddle division and the weaving continues upward toward the first border.^[40] The center section differs from the borders not only in weave, but often also in color; for instance, a black center may have dark blue borders, or a brown center may have black borders.

These blankets may be used as shawls and mantles as well as dresses. To fashion one into a dress, it is wrapped about the body and joined with red yarn part way up on the right side. The upper edges are drawn over the right shoulder and fastened there, leaving an opening for the right arm with the ends forming a kind of sleeve. The left arm and shoulder are bare and free. The break between the border and the center is often covered by cording or stitching of red and green yarn (pl. 19).

The Hopi men weave these blankets, which are in great demand among all the pueblos. In each village the inhabitants decorate the borders and sew the dresses in their own way. The Zuñi use a strong, embroidered border in dark blue. At Acoma, Tesuque, and Laguna red and green yarns have been introduced.

On rare occasions is seen a dark dress made of two pieces of cloth sewn up each side.^[41] It is worn in the same manner as the one-piece dark dress. It is obvious that the smaller pieces of cloth would require a correspondingly small loom for the weaving.

In these native homespun woolen blanket dresses we see one of the last stands of the native culture. No matter how decadent and Americanized a village has become, it is still possible to find one of these original dresses

Plate 19.
Simple costume for women.
Tablita Dance, Santo Domingo.

on some old grandmother puttering about her daily work, or on some actor performing in a dance which has its roots deep in native custom.

There is a special white ceremonial dress (pl. 22). It is woven of cotton, a plain weave, and decorated with wide bands of colored embroidery at top and bottom. So is the white mantle. The two garments are often interchangeable, although there is supposed to be an appreciable difference in size. The mantle originated from the great white robe and the dress from the smaller robe, both of which were woven for each Hopi bride at the time of her marriage. Today there are worn under these dresses other dresses of manufactured cloth with long sleeves and high necklines and trimmed with lace and fancy braid. The impersonators of female characters have sometimes taken over this added garment, as in the Kokochi ceremony at Zuñi.