Weaving Cattail Mats

After gathering and preparing the cattails in late summer remove and discard the brittle tip and the thick very end.

Weaving cattail mats.

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. Today weavers use cattails to make a variety of additional items such as hats place mats and chair seats. The native americans and early settlers used the cattail fluff as stuffing for pillows and sleeping mats.

Trim the bottom port. Two types of cattail grow in the u s. It would take half a dozen or more mats to cover a wigwam. When the cattail explodes to scatter its seeds there is a mass of fluffy white down that blows around in the wind.

A broad leaf cattail and a narrow leaf cattail. Video featuring and produced by liz schultz. The catkins were also substituted for goose down in jackets and coats. Native americans wove cattails into items such as mats baskets bags shoes military apparatus and toys using both finger weaving and braiding.