Woven animal hair or fiber such as jute or hemp doll poncho and skirt

[buyitonebay]

I came across this little 11" by 9" obvious handmade, probably one off item that as far as I can discern might be a primitive doll or miniature poncho and skirt/dress set. I was leaning toward animal or human hair when I first looked at it but some people have steered me toward maybe a plant fiber such as jute or hemp. If you look at the close ups you can see a dark, shiny brown coating that may be a big clue to what it's made out of. Basically I'm looking for any opinions as to where it was made, by who possibly and what it's made of. I hope I'm right in assuming its a doll outfit?

[talesofthesevenseas]

What are the dimensions of it? (measurments) My first impression was that it looked more like some kind of Native (not sure what region) baby outer wear, like something you would put on your papoose in bad weather, but that's just an impression.

[hosman321]

I was gonna ask the same question tales, but then I realized the dimensions were already posted.

[talesofthesevenseas]

  Whoops! Skimmed it too fast! It does look to be doll size, rather than baby. But maybe modeled after a traditional native costume of some sort?

[D&b antiques]

Looks to be Nomadic.

[buyitonebay]

My thoughts were that it was either north like the Inuit or South Americans. I don't know if the Native Americans of North America embraced the poncho but the skirt I believe they did. I believe it's period folkart to what ever period I can narrow it down to. Thanks for the suggestions and comments, Dirk. As I research more I will add to my post any findings.

[KC]

My thoughts when Talesof was asking dimensions for a baby made me think it was a REAL Premi! LOL  Someone else did what I do often! 

Questions of the day....where do you live and where did you get it?!

[ironlord1963]

Just a guess on the material.  Could it be Sweet Grass?  Where it is rolled together looks very much like Sweet Grass.

[KC]

Was wondering as well Ironlord

http://www.chichesterinc.com/AbenakiMasks.htm

[buyitonebay]

I think you guys are zeroin' in on it. I dug out one of my magnifying glasses and took a good look at it and it is some type of grass. Some spots show 3 or 4 of the thin strands within a leaf membrane (the brown varnish looking stuff). So that helps me a lot. It is made long strips of bladed grass. If sweet grass has a thin bladed stringy leaf that when dry can be used almost as a twine then you are on to something. Is sweet grass indigenous to a particular area or common thru out? Does it help me narrow down who might have made it? Thanks again. I'm off to scour the net for sweet grass!

[buyitonebay]

I think that this picture of green growing sweet grass would be a perfect candidate to match to what I see close up on this item under a glass. So I possibly could have a primitive/folkart sweet grass 11" by 9" representation of hopefully a period piece of some tribes daily clothes. Maybe it's a salesmans sample, lol. That's a great help. Now all I have to research is what people wore this garb and when. Much appreciated, I love old stuff but it's hard to beat this new fangled internet thingy!

[KC]

info on the tribes it may represent

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abenaki


Sweet Grass, Corn Husk (shredded makes it thinner), etc.

[cogar]

Could it be made of .......

Flax fibers are amongst the oldest fiber crops in the world. The use of flax for the production of linen goes back at least to ancient Egyptian times. Dyed flax fibers found in a cave in Dzudzuana (prehistoric Georgia) have been dated to 30,000 years ago. In North America, flax was introduced by the Puritans.

Flax fiber is extracted from the bast or skin of the stem of the flax plant. Flax fiber is soft, lustrous and flexible; bundles of fiber have the appearance of blonde hair, hence the description "flaxen". It is stronger than cotton fiber but less elastic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flax

[buyitonebay]

On the net the flax looks more threadlike or cottony. I will add it to my info. The items got more of a straw or ropeish look to it. I welcome more of your suggestions as to what it's made of but I think I've got the basics down. If anybody might have an idea of what the outfit represents as far as peoples who would have wore something like this or time period of it that would be great. For some reason when I was young, lets just say 40 years ago in school, I remember seeing people in dress like this when we were studying adobe type structures. Thanks again guys.

[KC]

Flax makes linen and was very fine even way back when.

You never answered the question where you live or what part of the country/world you got this at.

In case this is made by native american indians
http://www.native-languages.org/home.htm