Plant fiber weaving was an integral part of the Aleut culture. The local people have practiced this art since ancient times. Having developed and reached perfection, it practically disappeared later on. Aleut craftswomen used to weave baskets for collecting and storing food, as well as mats, caskets, vases, bags, even partitions that divided a dwelling into separate rooms.

Aleut products were woven using rye grass, which grew in abundance on coastal meadows and slopes in the region. Aleuts used only summer grass for making textured baskets and other wicker items. They harvested it in July, rarely in early August. Gathering and harvesting were labor-intensive: after drying and sorting, a small amount of material was gathered from a human-sized bundle, often it could fit in one’s hands. After processing, the plant threads were so soft to the touch that the trade was nicknamed “silk weaving”.

Weaving was done from left to right, from the bottom of the basket to its edge, along the perimeter of the entire piece. An Aleut basket was made by placing it upside down, with the strands hanging down. Products were woven from multi-colored grass fibers, mostly of yellowish and brownish shades. Using a variety of colors of grass fibers, craftswomen created geometric patterns based on symbolic figures: rhombus, rectangle, triangle and zigzag. Aleut women could include other natural materials in weaving: roots, feathers, even pebbles and shells.

This exhibit is one of the samples of Aleut weaving. The bag basket of cylindrical shape, made of rye grass, is slightly tapered to the base. The 31 centimeters’ upper diameter equaled the height of the rim; the transition from the bottom to the sides is quite smooth. This Aleut basket is decorated with inserts of red and grayish-green woolen threads. It is woven with sparse double weft weaving of vertical warps at the base, which passes into the weaving of branching warps.