Making Pine-Needle Baskets
Using Pine Needles for Traditional Native American Craft Baskets
Jan 19, 2008
Making baskets from pine needles is a fun and simple way to make beautiful artwork which carries on Native American traditions. It requires few tools and materials and, unlike many other basket making techniques, it doesn’t need a lot of room. See also Banana Fiber baskets for a tropical twist.
History of Pine Needle Baskets
The Native Americans of the Pacific North West traditionally used baskets for storage, cooking and clothing (basket hats were worn on the head and reed woven skirts and capes were worn by men and women). Each community had its own decorations, patterns and styling which told stories of the tribe or landscape. Different materials including reed, cedar bark and root and pine needles were used.
Materials Needed to Make a Pine Needle Basket
The long grouped needles of Long Leaf Pine. This tree can be found all over the West of the United States, up into British Columbia, and on higher ground down through Central America. Needles can be worked fresh or dried, needles will shrink as they dry and will not retain their color.
Traditional peoples used the root or thinly stripped bark of the cedar for sewing; raffia is a good replacement. It comes in a variety of colors and can be found in craft, home, garden and gift stores. Look for long fibers.
You will also need a stout needle. Sharp embroidery needles work well.
Preparing your Space
Gather more needles than you think you might need and soak them butt-end down in water overnight. Soak raffia for 20 minutes before you use it; you want it damp rather than wet. Soaking makes the fibers more pliable. Work at a table with good natural lightning.
Making your Basket
Begin by separating raffia into "threads", gently tearing to make strips roughly a quarter-inch wide – this makes the prettiest stitch, but work to your own preference. Select two or three strands of needles and, keeping the bark sheath on, wrap them tightly into a flat oval shape around the sheathed end. Stitch through from the center to the edge all the way around with each stitch touching its neighbor.
As you come to the free edge, wrap it in and stitch. When you have gone all the way around once and the center is nicely secure, you can begin to space your stitches. Keep spacing even. Each stitch should wrap around the newly incorporated needles and pierce the stitch in the round below. Always working from the stitch below will create a beautiful spiral pattern in the basket.
As you come to the end of the needles, simply add another group in, butt-end first with some overlap. Add in with the sheath on the outside. With pine needle baskets there is no separate base and sides; when you wish to shape the sides, lay the working edge slightly on top of the edge below and your basket will spiral upwards. Likewise if you wish to curve your basket in again, just layer your edge in the other direction.
Finishing your Basket
When you are ready to end, simply repeat the tight stitching you began with all around the rim. Always stitch into the layer below. To end your "thread", simply stitch it between layers to hold it tight. Now you can trim all those sheaths off (trim ends at a 45 degree angle so they lie flat against the basket), or leave them on for a spiraling decoration. Using raffia you can sew on feathers, beads or shells. With more experience, you can work such additions directly into the making of your basket.
