A Study on the Patchwork in the Costumes of the Arctic Regions

The most distinctive feature of the costumes of the Arctic regions from Alaska to Siberia centering around the Bering Sea connecting Asia to North America, is that each tribe makes clothes adequate to the climate and their lifestyles with animal hides obtained from hunting in their habitation. Furs or fish skins, the main materials for clothing, are characteristically cut into many pieces, and thus piece-joining patchwork is used to make or decorate garments. Patchwork is the technique that can create new designs with 3-dimensional and various combinations by modifying the simple materials, and also has the advantage of fitting the body without a certain cut line. Therefore, the patchwork found in the Arctic costumes may be developed from folk costume designs with limited materials like fur into new ones for modern or future costumes.