192 COILED BASKETRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA  [etn. ayn. 41 
no such thing as too low a foot. It is high enough when the bottom 
of the basket clears the ground. A protecting foot is preferred to 
a sagging bottom. 
It will be remembered that in parts exposed to wear the coils were 
constructed with larger diameters. This is also often the case with 
the bottom coil of the foot. 
There are several ways of adding this part to the basket, one of 
which is to build a separate piece either of spiral or ring coils and to 
fasten it by sewing to the bottom before the walls are commenced. 
It may be either of spreading shape or straight but the former is 
ve preferred. It is not necessary, however, to sew 
the foot on before the side walls are begun, but 
———— - it is easier than attaching it to the complete 
basket. 
Fic. 19.—Method of making A watch-spring coiled bottom of either the 
togh ot heskss circular or elongated type usually has a separate 
foot, even though this is not a necessary concomitant. On the other 
hand, slat bottoms or those made of parallel folded coils more 
frequently have feet which are made in one piece with the side walls. 
The separate pieces built of ring coils are less common because of 
the time required to splice each ring and to make sure that the 
joints do not come one over the other. Where the spiral is employed 
it is begun with a very small coil which is stitched to the edge of 
the bottom and which gradually increases in diameter as the work 
proceeds. ‘The sewing is, as usual, toward the right and is caught 
into that coil which divides the planes of bottom and wall, because 
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Fic, 20,—Method of making foot of basket 
a better hold is to be gained there. When the foot is high enough, 
the coil is again diminished, so that the decreased portion comes on 
the same side as that where the work began, thus making a level 
stand. Figure 19 shows the finished product upside down as it is 
made. 
When the foot is to be made all of one piece with the side walls, 
as frequently happens on rectangular shapes, ‘a round coil is stitched 
in the middle of its length to the bottom at or near a corner. The 
left-hand portion is left loose, to be taken up later, when the foot is 
started. That at the right is used to build the side walls, which are 
