![]() The weaving of blankets is almost exclusively performed by women whilst the men were in charge of building the looms. The blankets were used in a wide variety of garments, including (but not limited to) dresses, saddle blankets, cloaks (called serapes), night covers, or even as a “door” at the entrance of their homes, called hogans, which were semi-permanent cabins traditionally made from wood, bark and mud. Unlike many other “souvenirs” sold in the West, the Navajo blankets actually served a function in their own culture. Navajo treaty singers around 1868 and The Treaty of Bosque Redondo. The Navajos spun their own wool up until the 1860s when the US Army interfered. In the mid-to-late nineteenth century, chemical dyes were invented and implemented for a greater color palette. Brought over by the Spanish, who referred to the cloth as bayeta, the Navajo would unravel the yarn and weave the reds into their own blankets. ![]() Instead, red cloth was imported from England, as the English were accomplished at extracting carmine dye from the cochineal beetle. The Navajo favored the color red, as it’s frequent in their weaving, but it was difficult to obtain red vegetable dyes in the Southwest. Stripes were also colored with indigo, which could be obtained from indigofera shrubs imported from Mexico on pony caravans. The main colors of early blankets were typically grey, brown, tan, white or black, which was due to the natural color of the Churro sheep. Traditional blankets were simple in design- early Pueblo blankets prominently featured banded stripe-patterns. Vertical loom as used by the Navajo in weaving blankets and rugs. This loom, operated from sitting on the floor, was narrow and much smaller than the vertical loom, and couldn’t be used to weave a textile wider than 18 inches. Prior to the mid-seventeenth century, a backstrap loom, also called a belt loom, had been the norm for weaving. The Puebloans brought with them Spanish sheep and introduced the Navajo to the vertical loom. Following this event, many Puebloans sought refuge in Navajo homes, suggesting that this period was when they passed on the skill of weaving to the Navajo, although some sources suggest that Navajos had already picked up weaving half a century earlier. The Puebloans-since the Spanish arrival in Southwest-had been faced with subjugation for more than a hundred years, and ultimately succeeded in expelling the Spanish rule in Santa Fe during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. Navajo blankets were traditionally woven on primitive, hand-operated looms, pioneered in the area by the Pueblo people. Invisible to the naked eye, the loose thread would allow their soul to escape. The Navajo also believed that they wove their soul into the pieces they created, so they’d implement a loose thread somewhere into their blankets. The Navajo people believed that no one was perfect but God, and thus what they created needed to have some degree of imperfection, a sort of humility. The legend says that Spider Man created the loom of sunshine, lightning and rain, while Spider Woman taught the Navajo how to weave it. According to Navajo tradition, they were taught to weave by two holy ones: Spider Man and Spider Woman. Not to be confused with other Native American tribes such as Apache, Pueblo or Ute, the Navajo peoples have their own language, religion and way of life. They inhabited the Southwest sometime in the fifteenth century, and eventually settled down in the Four Corners region by the sixteenth century. The Navajo people are one of the two largest federally recognized tribes in the US. It was actually a lucky coincidence, with competition and trends shaping the market, that drove the Navajo into the business of home decoration. But the Navajo didn’t always make rugs-traditionally they produced blankets for wearing. Since the late nineteenth century, Navajo rugs have started to find their way into Western civilization, and today they adorn homes all over the world. Navajo inspiration on the runway for British fashion brand KTZ during London Fashion Week 2015.
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