Navajo Banded Wearing Blanket, Circa 1880

Navajo

1880 | Wool | Item 2513

This is a very finely woven Navajo wearing blanket. It is very soft and supple, about as cozy as a blanket gets! The white background and the red bands are all home spun churro wool on a wool warp. The deep brown, thin bands are a mix of deep purple and purple/brown and they appear to be raveled from bayeta. The twist on these purple yarns is completely different than the hand spun white and red yarns – it is tighter and has a kink to it, as raveled yarns often show. There are occasional sectional lines done in the old style of being wave like in their making. The corners are embellished with red yarn, same as the yarns used for the selvages. This blanket is unrestored and has small areas of edge loss and a few thin spots.