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The first patterns and styles used by the Navajo were simple
weft stripe patterns that the Pueblos had long used, but eventually the
terraced (or step) and diamond design became ascendant. Design is
built into the structure of the weaving and is never painted on as in some
Pueblo weavings. Basic weaving techniques were already familiar to
Navajo women through weaving baskets. Nevertheless, the character
of patterning was different in blankets than in basketry, and it is primarily
through intermarriage with the Pueblos that Navajo women learned to weave
wool blankets.
THE STRIPED BLANKET
Stripe patterns possess a dignity, simplicity, and
practicality. Not only were the earliest blankets conceived in stripes
but a young woman’s first blanket was generally a striped blanket (fig.
3). Even the technique of striped blankets is somewhat
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Figure 3. Plain Stripe
Blanket Worn by Ash-tish-kel, Southwest Museum, L.A.
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