The Redskin Chief

The Redskin Chief – This is a lovely costume that should not be beyond any boy’s powers to make. First of all, let us start on the head dress. Make the headband of still linen, 4 in. wide and folded over in two, and ironed down the centre, with a strip of ¼ in. elastic tacked on the inside. The overall length of this band should be 3 yards and the circle for the head should be of your size, so that it fits snugly round your forehead and back of the head. The two hanging pieces that fall at the side, over the ears, should measure about I2 in. in depth.

Get some white chicken feathers and use spirit dyes to colour these. Dip the edges and tips in this dye and paint the central markings with a brush. In the top of the headdress use large feathers and put a row of smaller ones immediately in front of these. The method of sewing the feathers is quite simple, The quill of each feather is sewn round with white cotton on to the handband and the point of each feather is gummed to hold it in place. Fasten some round headed brass clips along the band as shown in the diagram. All this will help to keep the feathers quite rigid and permanent and they will have a realistic appearance.

The remainder of the costume is a large coloured blanket draped over the shoulders and allowed to hang down, as shown in the picture. Perhaps you have some old long trousers and it will not matter if they are not used again for their original purpose. Cut two strips of leather fringing and sew these down the outisde of the legs, as illustrated. Moccasins can be made by painting some old gym shoes with bright bands of colour to imitate the original Indian footwear. A couple of gaudily coloured necklaces and some earrings in multi-colours will complete your attractive costume. Put red grease paint on your face and you could easily be taken for a young chief.