[Illustration: FIG. 336. Grass embroidery upon the surface of closely
impacted, twined basketry. Work of the northwest coast Indians.]

A large class of embroideries are applied by like processes, but
without reference to the construction of the foundation fabric, as
they are also applied to felt and leather. Again, artificially
prepared perforations are used, through which the fillets are passed.
The results are much less uniformly geometric than where the fabric is
followed; yet the mere adding of the figures, stitch by stitch or part
by part, is sufficient to impart a large share of geometricity, as may
be seen in the buckskin bead work and in the dentalium and quill work
of the Indians.

Feather embroidery was carried to a high degree of perfection by our
ancient aborigines, and the results were perhaps the most brilliant of
all these wonderful decorations. I have already shown how feathers are
woven in with the warp and woof, and may now give a single
illustration of the application of feather work to the surfaces of
fabrics. Among the beautiful articles recovered from the tombs of
Ancon, Peru, are some much decayed specimens of feather work. In our
example delicate feathers of red, blue, and yellow hues are applied to
the surface of a coarse cotton fabric by first carefully tying them
together in rows at regular distances and afterwards stitching them
down, as shown in Fig. 337.

The same method is practiced by modern peoples in many parts of the
world. Other decorative materials are applied in similar ways by
attachment to cords or fillets which are afterwards stitched down. In
all this work the geometricity is entirely or nearly uniform with