Navajo rugs

The first Navajo blankets were made to wear over the shoulders. They were woven in simple black and white stripes of natural colored wool.

These Indians have a special passion for bright red, and traded anything they had for a bit of red baize from the canny Spanish traders. This fabric was like billiard table cloth, and may have been part of the Spanish uniform.

The Indians patiently unraveled this baize and wove it into their rugs.

Apparently the dye was superb, because these early "bayeta" blankets have never lost their color and are highly prized by collectors.

When the Navajos learned to make other colors from native roots and barks, and were given indigo to make blues, a wider variety of color was woven into their blankets.