Nez Perce National Historical Park

Cornhusk Bag (front and back)
For centuries the people of the Columbia Plateau made bags entirely of Indian hemp with false embroidery with local grasses. Once corn became readily available to native weavers, they covered the whole bag with false embroidery rather then the small areas they were accustomed to with bear grass. Today, weavers prefer using cornhusk for the false embroidery. Plain twining of cotton warp, cotton and Indian hemp wefts. False embroidery, dyed and undyed cornhusk used as the external weft to create the embroidered surface. Indian hemp weft was used for the bottom and rim of bag.
Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum), cornhusk (Zea mays). H 31, W 37 cm
Nez Perce National Historical Park, NEPE 1926



Cornhusk Bag (front and back) For centuries the people of the Columbia Plateau made bags entirely of Indian hemp with false embroidery with local grasses. Once corn became readily available to native weavers, they covered the whole bag with false embroidery rather then the small areas they were accustomed to with bear grass. Today, weavers prefer using cornhusk for the false embroidery. Plain twining of cotton warp, cotton and Indian hemp wefts. False embroidery, dyed and undyed cornhusk used as the external weft to create the embroidered surface. Indian hemp weft was used for the bottom and rim of bag. Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum), cornhusk (Zea mays). H 31, W 37 cm Nez Perce National Historical Park, NEPE 1926
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