Navajo and Native American Clothing and Adornment

Abstract

Tillie Begay was my Navajo maternal grandmother. She shared with me her art, beauty and
appreciation for the three-tiered Navajo traditional gathered skirts and Navajo blouses. Often
such clothing was made of cotton, due to lack of funds. Silk and velveteen were utilized only if
the family budget allowed.
As a child, I watched how my grandmother’s hands touched the fabric she admired and how the
nap of the velveteen fabric moved to the side as she ran her hands over it. She would look closely
at the color of the fabric and determine in her mind if that was the one she wished to use to make
a new skirt or blouse. Once she matched the fabric, she took it to her sewing area and started the
measurements for a skirt by using her hands to measure from her waistline to the bottom of the
skirt. If she wished to measure for another person, she would use the same technique, measuring
from the waistline to the bottom of the skirt (near the ankle) by using her hand (extending her
whole hand and measuring, using the thumb to pinky fingers as one measurement length). Once
she figured out the measurement, she used her hand to calculate the equal distances between each
tier and made a cut into the selvedge edge of the fabric. Then she continued to pull on the fabric
by tearing it apart with her hands along the cut edges, a technique which works well for cotton
and silk materials. Very carefully, she planned the construction of the gathered skirt and sewed it
together into a beautiful garment.
For her blouse, she used a former Navajo blouse she had made as her pattern and followed it as
her guide for making a new shirt for herself or to change the size for another person by
estimating the measurements for that person. When she was done she always had a smile of
contentment and accomplishment on her face. My maternal grandmother never wore store-purchased blouses or skirts. She always made them herself. But when she became an elderly
woman, myself and others made her new clothing for her.
Any Native American garment, traditional or contemporary, or regalia made for a special
occasion or event is truly a work of art by the seamstress who made it.