Bead Embroidery

• One early beading embroidery technique of the Eastern Woodland Indians seems to have originated from quillwork, according to Clark Wissler in his book "North American Indian Beadwork Designs." Banded beads, in which the same number of beads are strung in each row and sewn down onto animal skins at regular intervals, resulted in a banded appearance. Quillwork is similar in that quills are dyed, flattened and laid out in bands. Wissler theorizes that a craftsman substituted beads for quills one day and a new art form was born.
  
  Other beading techniques include outlining, which was used by the Ojibway tribe, and also originated from quillwork, according to Wissler. Early designs featured quills used to outline a pattern. Later, beads were used in outlining, gradually leading to completely filled-in designs. Running stitch, in which three or more beads are strung on a thread and then the thread is restrung through one bead to anchor the row down, is a commonly used outline stitch. Fill-in stitches used by Eastern Woodland tribes included the lazy stitch, which consists of wide rows composed of adjacent parallel lines of 6 to 10 beads.
  
  

Bead Weaving

• Bead weaving, both on freehand and on a loom, was also used by Eastern Woodland Indians, according to NativeTech.org. The freehand technique was similar to both braiding, also known as wire work, and bead wrapping, in which the string is wrapped around each bead to secure it as it is woven. Bias weaving arose from wire work, and this technique consists of weaving beads on the diagonal to create straps or belts.
  
  Loom weaving most likely originated from the need to bead larger items, and bow looms constructed of a flexible piece of cedar or willow were used. Loom weaving involves stringing a base thread, called a weft, first and then weaving the beads around the weft to secure them.