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Awl Case
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Plains women hung small bags often decorated with beads from their belts to keep their most important tools at hand. This one contained an awl, a shaft of bone, stone, or metal that tapered to a point and had many functions. One of the most important was to sew animal hides into garments: the awl was used to punch small holes in the hide, and then a thread made of animal sinew was laced through the holes and pulled tight.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineAwl Case, c. 1890. Native North America, Plains, Gaigwu (Kiowa). Native-tanned hide, glass beads, cotton thread; overall: 33.7 cm (13 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Katherine Allen Perry, 1934.241
