At knee level there was a ruffle and the whole skirt gathered around the womans waist. The blouse worn was long sleeved, with an attached cape that could be closed to cover the extremely short blouse. The actual blouse was so short that it would barely cover the womans chest and left a few inches of her midriff showing. In old photographs, like the one in source seven, women were always photographed with their arms crossed in front of their midriff gap, giving the photo a sense of decency. Then to top the outfit off, they would wear 10-15 pounds of glass beads. All of the garments were made of patchwork of course, but is thought that Mrs. Alice William McKinely Osceola was the first woman to wear a row of patchwork on her dress (source eight). A row of fire adorned her cape. Also you can clearly see the 10-15 pounds of glass beads around her neck (Blackard and West).The mans attire was a little less complex than that of the womans. Men wore a simple full cut shirt and either a short skirt or pants, depending on what Seminole tribe you look at. A very popular garment for men was the big shirt, which had a gathered waistband at the knees. The big shirt also known as the long shirt, came to be known as the medicine mans coat. Only those of special rank or stature then wore them. Originally this was not the case, all men owned one and it had no affiliation tied to it (Blackward and West). Later into the 19th Century and into the 20th Century, a patchwork jacket gathered at the waist and wrist was quite popular. In source nine you can see present day Chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, James E. Billie wearing a patchwork jacket (Westermark -Bad Horses). James E. Billie is not the only present day Seminole to wear traditional patchwork garments, but the number of Seminoles who do not uphold the tradition of patchwork outweighs those who do.Seminole patchwork in the 90s has been somewhat disappointing. There was once a ...
