Pictured here is a Mandan woman sewing designs on a hide.  Beading and
embroidery work using porcupine quills and bird feathers were important
crafts among North American Indians.  The Arapaho, Sioux, and Cheyenne
were particularly well known for their quill work.  Men helped gather the
materials and prepared the dyes, while women did the coloring, dressed the
skins, and created the designs.  Beads were made of seeds, quartz and
other minerals, shell, horn, bone, teeth, claws, and ivory.  The artists
either created stencils or drew the designs freehand.  Of the embroidered
clothing, the men's outfits were always the most elaborate, depictions
their skills in hunting or combat.  Designs also showed sacred symbols
significant to the tribe.  Quill and beadwork had many uses, as gifts and
money, and in records of war or peace councils, worship, and special
ceremonies.