Native American Indian Costumes

The making of clothing among the pre-industrial Native American tribes was quite a lengthy process!

Animal hides needed to be scraped to remove the hair, processed and then cured.

Needles were generally manufactured from bone and used with sinew for thread (except in the Southwest, where the Agave plant became both needle and thread). For outfits of special significance, such as ceremonial attire, decorations such as wampum, quills and/or feathers were painstakingly added by hand.

Clothing details varied from tribe to tribe- in fact, members of a tribe could be easily distinguished by their attire! In general, men wore breechcloths and women wore skirts (with or without a tunic or cloak) or a 1-piece dress. Both genders typically wore leggings in colder climates.