Navajo Blankets and Rugs

       Navajo blankets were woven for use as wearing apparel until about 1880. They are known as shoulder blankets because they were worn about the shoulders. The old shoulder blankets were woven so tightly that they were almost waterproof. Navajo rugs are of later origin. They were not woven before 1880.
       Historic blankets and rugs can be grouped into four periods. The first period dates from the early part of the nineteenth century. Most of the few blankets remaining from this period are preserved in museums and private collections. They are woven in broad, horizontal stripes of natural-colored wool or native-dyed yarn on a white background.
 

Navajo weaving at the Hubbel trading post in 1972

       The second period is from 1850 to about 1870. Many blankets of this period were obtained by army officers, private collectors, and Navajo traders. Later they gave, sold, or loaned the blankets to museums. Blankets of the second period are of outstanding texture. They fall into two distinct types: the Classic blanket and the Chief blanket.
       The design of the Classic blanket consists of simple stripes and stepped zigzags or terraces. The Chief blanket bears a design of alternating broad bands of brown or black and white. Sometimes there is a stripe of indigo blue. Rows of rectangular figures often are incorporated into the pattern. Another characteristic of the blankets of this period is the use of bayeta yarn.
       The third period, from about 1870 to 1890, saw the transformation of the blanket into a rug for commercial use. Diamond patterns in a great variety of sizes and combinations are characteristic of the third period. After 1890, very few blankets were woven.
       The fourth period covers about twenty-five or thirty years, from 1890 to 1915 or 1920. One of the distinguishing features of rugs of this period is the use of a central design with a border around it.
       So we see that within the space of about a century there have been four distinct styles in Navajo weaving. These styles reflect the changes in culture that took place in Navajo life. Perhaps the most important change in Navajo life and in their weaving commenced in 1880, when these natives were able to buy from the early settlers manufactured blankets for their own use and at the same time find a market for their hand-woven articles among the settlers.
       The change from weaving for tribal use to the production of woven articles for sale resulted in a rapid growth of the craft. It was about this time that the Navajos first obtained the bright-colored Saxony and Germantown yarns and aniline dyes. The novelty of ready-dyed yarns and easy-to-use aniline dyes captivated their interests and for several years they stopped using native colors almost entirely. The new materials sped up the work so that the weavers could turn out great numbers of hand-woven articles for the fast-growing trade with the outside world. But careless workmanship often was the result. And, also, the products were characterized by gaudy colors in unpleasing combinations because the weavers used  new dyes and yarns verses those materials made by home industry.
       But the weavers continue to improve the quality of their work through perseverance and integrity, no longer sacrificing the good color, pleasing design, and careful workmanship of earlier Navajo weaving.  by Roberta Caldwell.

        Woman's fancy manta, circa 1865. "Navajo people believe in beauty all around and, here, this weaver is weaving her version of beauty." —Sierra Ornelas, Navajo weaver