Native American Unit Study - Lesson 7b: Hopi Clothing

My daughter made a Hopi dress with a belt.

In the book More Than Moccasins: A Kid's Activity Guide to Traditional North American Indian Life (Hands-On History) by Laurie Carlson, my daughter learned that Hopi women wore dresses with only one shoulder strap belted at the waist. She decided to make a dress of her own.

Her dress was constructed from fleece. To cut the material she laid one of her tank tops on top of the material to get the sizing close. Then she cut the fabric into a dress shape.

The dress was sewn down the sides and at the shoulder.

A decorative ribbon was added at the bottom.

Next she cut a long narrow strip of fleece to be tied at the waist as a belt. Fringe was added to the end of the belt as were fancy stitches into the boarders.

If you've been following Highhill Education, you may have noticed the theme of green fleece in the Native American clothing posts. My daughter's favorite craft is sewing. Therefore, after reading about many different traditions of Native American tribes, my daughter usually decided to make an article of clothing for her craft. She has an entire Native American outfit nearly completed. However, the outfit was made by combining the traditional clothing styles of many different tribes. Therefore, you will have to wait a week or two to see the entire outfit. Stay tuned. :)

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