Navajo Double Saddle Blanket with Interlocking Hooks Design [SOLD]

C4583E-saddle.jpg

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Once Known Native American Weaver

This excellent saddle blanket was woven in a size that could be folded in half for additional comfort for the horse.  Since it has not been used on a horse, and is not likely to be used as such, it is a perfect size to display fully open.  The center rectangular block is a tan color, achieved by carding white and brown wool together—in this case more white than brown yarn.  

The blanket is bordered by a band measuring 7-½” wide on the long sides and 6” wide on the short ends. The outer band is red and the inner one is brown.  From the red border there are attached L-shaped red bars and from the inner brown border are similar L-shaped brown bars. The interlocking hooks create a maze in the white wool surrounding them.  

Selvedge cords wrapped around the four edges of the blanket are tied off at the corners and end in short tassels.


A useful way of remembering which is warp and which is weft is: 'one of them goes from weft to wight'.

Warp and Weft:  In weaving, the weft (sometimes woof) is the term for the thread or yarn which is drawn through, inserted over-and-under, the lengthwise warp yarns that are held in tension on a frame or loom to create cloth. Warp is the lengthwise or longitudinal thread in a roll, while weft is the transverse thread. A single thread of the weft, crossing the warp, is called a pick. Terms do vary (for instance, in North America, the weft is sometimes referred to as the fill or the filling yarn).  Each individual warp thread in a fabric is called a warp end or end.  The weft is a thread or yarn usually made of spun fibre. The original fibres used were wool, flax or cotton. Today, man-made fibres are often used in weaving. Because the weft does not have to be stretched on a loom in the way that the warp is, it can generally be less strong.  The weft is threaded through the warp using a "shuttle", air jets or "rapier grippers." Hand looms were the original weaver's tool, with the shuttle being threaded through alternately raised warps by hand.  -Wikipedia


Condition: good condition with no evidence of prior use

Provenance: this Navajo Double Saddle Blanket with Interlocking Hooks Design is from the collection of a gentleman from California

Recommended Reading: The Navajo Weaving Tradition 1650 to the Present by Alice Kaufman and Christopher Selser.

TAGS: textilesNavajo Nation

Once Known Native American Weaver
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