Weaving Cattail Mats
Video featuring and produced by liz schultz.
Weaving cattail mats. A broad leaf cattail and a narrow leaf cattail. Two types of cattail grow in the u s. Most full size sewn cattail mats measured five to six feet wide and 10 feet long. Sewn cattail mats were often used as exterior coverings of wigwams.
When the cattail explodes to scatter its seeds there is a mass of fluffy white down that blows around in the wind. The catkins were also substituted for goose down in jackets and coats. It would take half a dozen or more mats to cover a wigwam. Steps to weaving a cattail mat 1.
Sep 16 2013 today i show you how to make a woven cattail mat that i am going to use for sun drying wild cherries. The native americans and early settlers used the cattail fluff as stuffing for pillows and sleeping mats. Native americans wove cattails into items such as mats baskets bags shoes military apparatus and toys using both finger weaving and braiding. After gathering and preparing the cattails in late summer remove and discard the brittle tip and the thick very end.