The Navajo Chief's blanket or Chief's rug does not belong to a specific weaving region. The Chief blanket was woven by the Navajos for trade or sale to other Native Americans or traders in their trading area. The Chief blanket is not worn by Navajo chiefs, but by chiefs of other tribes. These fine blankets, expertly woven and relatively costly, were prestige symbols for Native Americans and non-natives alike. Some Army commanders were presented Chief blankets as gifts.
The first Chief blanket featured a simple plain black and white stripe design. Some weavers would put rectangles, but still retained a basic-white stripe motif. Some blankets would feature corner and center designs as well as the broad stripes. A women's style of a Chief blanket is that it had narrow gray and black stripes instead of a broad black and white bands. Usually the top, bottom, and center bands were striped with indigo and had rectangles of bayeta woven into the stripes.
Bayeta or balleta is a wool cloth similar to loosely woven flannel that was originally made in Manchester, England. The bayeta would be shipped from Spain to Mexico. Traders would move the bayeta up the old trade routes into New Mexico and Arizona for profit. Bayeta came in bolts and could be easily unraveled into threads. The threads would be spun into yarn and woven into blankets. The red bayeta yarn used was commonly misinformed as to come from Spanish uniforms, but there is no record that a Navajo rug or blanket having material from a Spanish uniform or any other soldier's uniform.
The Navajo jewelry and other hand-made products you purchase from GoNavajo.com are individually hand crafted. For this reason, each piece is unique - and is a one of a kind item - The jewelry piece or other hand-crafted item will closely resemble, but may differ slightly from the one pictured. A 100% satisfaction guarantee is with each item you purchase; return within two-weeks of purchase for a full refund.
For our custom request product items are crafted one at a time by local artisans and craftspeople. Your order will be shipped to you as soon as it is completed.
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