French Canadian Metis Native American (culture)

As the Europeans came in contact with the Indians of the Northwest through the fur trade they not only introduced new ideas to the Indians but were in turn influenced by them. The Indians had long produced sashes finger woven in the technique known as oblique interlace, a type of braiding. These sashes were adopted by many traders and Metis involved in the fur trade, who replaced the plant fibers and cotton originally used with a variety of colored wool threads, creating finely woven bright sashes.