This manta, or dress/shawl is striking because of the quality and color of the indigo blue. The upper and lower bands has weft all in indigo, done in a diamond twill pattern. The warps show the background color of the diamond twill, which is deep natural brown sheep’s wool. The diamonds in the twill pattern […]
This exceptional blanket has a moki design where thin brown bands alternate with thin indigo blue bands. The blanket is divided into 7 sections. The middle section is the most narrow, creating an elegant center. Outward from the center are 3 groupings of banding systems separated by white bands boarded with ticking. Each of these […]
This is an early moki wearing blanket, circa 1860 and possibly as early as 1840. This blanket is finely woven with a wonderful, thin handle. There are 11 warps to the inch and 64 wefts to the inch. The wool is from churro sheep, and the age of the surface creates a beautiful sheen. The […]
This is a rare and early shirt. The date is conjectured, as there are few of them existing in this form and this degree of fineness. The small size also suggests an earlier date. There is significant moth damage and the deeper, inner, exposed yarn is a lighter indigo blue in contrast to the external […]
The soft colors in this second phase coupled with the simplified banding gives this blanket a very handsome look. The way the three barber poll bands reverse their direction gives these simple, red rectangles extra energy. The weave is very blanket like, not rug like. This blanket looks particularly good put onto a shoulder mount. […]
This blanket was believed to have been collection by an American soldier around 1848 in relation to the Mexican / American War period. Warps are single ply handspun white wool. The red weft is raveled bayeta dyed (1mm) with cochineal and is woven as a herring bone twill. The light blue weft is white wool […]
It’s rare to find an early and exceptional, classic Hopi maiden shawl like this one. The unravelled bayeta to make up the fine red weft comes from the early, lac dyed wool cloth that was imported to American during the first half of the 19the century. The Hopi would unravel this wool cloth and use […]
This is a classic Hopi maiden shawl. These colorful mantas were worn by the young women before they were married. A family male member would typically weave this manta on an upright loom. The warp and weft on the body are both undyed cotton, the weft being hand spun and the warp being plied (either […]
This is an unusual weaving in how it was made. These mantas are typically embroidered once they have been woven. Here, we have the designs that would have been done with embroidery instead show up as having been woven in. In other examples, the body of the blanket would be woven with cotton weft and […]
This small, baby twilled blanket is a miniature of the larger man’s bachelor blanket. It was made for a new born baby boy and was likely woven by a male member of the family – perhaps an uncle. The wool is churro, being soft and supple like wool is from those early weaving days. The […]
