Culture of Carpeting: Navajo

Navajo Carpeting

Hand-woven on an upright tapestry style loom with a continuous warp thread that doesn't terminate in a fringe, instead the lose selvedge ends are braided then tied at the cornes. The edges along the rug remain finished due to this

Two Weaving Methods

Tapestry Weave

Wedge Weave

Originally all Navajo crafts were made out of wool from a long haired sheep(Navajo Churro) raised by them in their native region in the American Southwest.

The Pueblo Indians taught them the craft originally

Horrible relocation by the U.S. government onto reservations around the Four Corners area of Utah,Colorado,New Mexico, and Arizona in the 19^th century that changed the quality and forced the product to be made for outside consumption

Rugs weren’t actually produced until the 19^th century for export, so flatweave textiles would have been used for floor coverings and hangings, however the original purpose of their weaving was to produce clothing

Thicker yarns were used during the transition from textile to floor covering for selling

Typical patterns are stripes, diamond, and terraced shapes used singularly or in combination.

Dyestuffs were naturally derived from the earth for vegetal,mineral,or animal matter

Navajo textiles have no particular religious significance by themselves

However weaving was a part of their mythic origins with the godess spider woman teaching the females to weave at the beginning of time after she wove the abstract pattern of the sky

The carpets do take pattern inspiration from nature