CU Museum: Exhibits: Three Cultures of Master Weaving: Glossary of Weaving Terms

Glossary of Weaving Terms Navigational Menu

The following definitions apply specifically to the collections of the University of Colorado Museum, and have also been used in the collection catalogues of the Navajo Tribal Museum, Arizona State Museum, and the Museum of Northern Arizona. These terms may have different meanings when used in other contexts. Comments by Joe Ben Wheat appear in italics. (This glossary was taken from Ann Lane Hedlund, Beyond the Loom: Keys to Understanding Early Southwestern Weaving. Boulder, CO: Johnson Publishing Company, 1990.)

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aniline dye: see dyes, aniline
augmented tassels: Corner tassels in which additional yarn is inserted into the fabric's corners and looped through the fabric several times; each loop is left loose to form a decoration and to reinforce the corner's edges. Common on Navajo textiles.
balanced weave: see weave, balanced
banded: A design of horizontal (i.e., in the weft direction) elements, either of solid colors or with patterns running across each band; as opposed to striped, running in a vertical (warp-wise) direction.
bands, compound or zoned: A design layout in which units of horizontal bands are regularly spaced and repeated with some regular rhythm; bands may be of solid colors or may have patterns within them.
bar: A segment of a band, usually not extending from selvage to selvage.
batten: A flat, broad stick used in Navajo and Pueblo weaving to open and maintain the weaving shed and, sometimes, to compact weft yarns into the weave. Usually several inches wide and a foot and a half long.
bayeta: A generic term for several types of trade cloth which was commonly raveled and reused as weft in nineteenth century Navajo and some other textiles The term is Spanish, the English word being baize, but fabrics from Spain, England, elsewhere in Europe, the Near East, Mexico, New Mexico, and New England were obtained and raveled by the Navajos. Usually dyed red with cochineal, lac, a combination of the two, or with aniline dyes, but other natural and synthetic colors have also been reported.
beading: A small-scale woven pattern created by the alternation of two different colored wefts in a weft-faced fabric (or warps in a warp-faced fabric), resulting in small lines or blocks.
blanket: A rectangular fabric made in any of a variety of weaves and patterns, usually softly woven in order to drape around the body or to be used as bedding.
blanket, Chief: A distinctive style of Navajo shoulder blanket and some rugs that are made wider than long. Two zones of wide black and white bands are separated by a series of narrower blue, black, and/or red bands along the ends and across the blanket's center, often with diamonds, rectangles, or other geometric motifs placed in three rows of three motifs each (see Nine-spot pattern). For ease of identification, chief blankets are divided into four phases, although the patterns overlap in time and continued in use during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.; First Phase (1800-1850)Simple weft bands in black and white alternating with zones of dark blue and sometimes red.; Second Phase (1850-1870) Bands still prominent, with 9 or 12 rectangles added as design elements. At first small, later rectangles are larger and often create gridlike effects.; Third Phase (1865-1875) Rectangles modified into 9 small diamonds, which give way in later times to exploded diamond shapes that dominate the pattern.; Fourth Phase (1870-1900) Increasingly elaborate shoulder blanket designs of the Transition Period. Sometimes the diamonds in such pieces are so large that the once dominant black and white bands become background. Serrate patterns replace classic terraced designs. Elaborations such as pictorial motifs or continuous (edge to edge) motifs are sometimes woven into these blankets.
blanket, child's: A small, sarape-style blanket. Recent study has suggested that many so-called child's blankets of the late nineteenth century may actually have been woven for use as trade items or souvenirs rather than for native children's use.
blanket, saddle: A blanket that is placed beneath a horse's saddle to prevent the saddle from galling the animal. Single saddle blankets normally measure thirty inches square; double saddle blankets are approximately thirty by sixty inches and are folded in half when used. Saddle blankets are also frequently used as small rugs.
blanket, shoulder: A rectangular fabric that was worn draped over the shoulders or around the body.
blanket, woman's: A rectangular, wider-than-Iong fabric, smaller than a man's blanket. Typical designs are similar to those of chief blankets, except that the bands are narrower and darker, with gray bands instead of white ones.
blend: Wool of several colors that has been carded together to produce a third color; most often, natural black-brown and natural white are combined to make a blended gray.
Bosque Redondo: An alternative name for Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where the Navajo were held by the U.S. government from 1863 to 1868, in an effort to control and "civilize" them. Rounded up by Kit Carson and his men, the Navajos were taken on "The Long Walk" from their lands to the camp at Bosque Redondo, hundreds of miles away from their homes. Many people died, livestock were slaughtered, lands were lost-Iife changed dramatically for the Navajo at this time. The people were exposed to many new trade items and to very different lifestyles. Although some returned to northern Arizona after 1868, life was never the same. Bosque Redondo remains a symbol for this major turning point in Navajo life and culture.
carding: The process of cleaning and straightening wool in preparation for spinning by brushing the fibers with a pair of carders (flat brushes with wire teeth set closely in rows and held by handles attached at one end) or with a mechanized carding machine.
Chief blanket: see blanket, Chief
child's blanket: see blanket, child's
Chimayo: A Spanish-American town in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico, where many weavers have made blankets, rugs, and runners on European-style floor looms for generations.
churro wool: see wool, churro
Classic Period, Classic style of Navajo weaving: Classic Period (prior to 1865) This "traditional" phase is known for fine blankets, mantas, and other garments, woven for Navajo use and intertribal trade. Terraced tapestry patterns on dresses and blankets evolved from simple, right-angled basketry designs. The sarape-style blankets of the period are characterized by intense, densely integrated design schemes of terraced geometric elements, using a limited number of colors (natural white and brown, indigo blue, and raveled insect-dyed red).; Late Classic Period (circa 1865-1885) This early "transitional" period is marked by increasing influences from the outside. Many sarape-style blankets have patterns related to the terraced design schemes from the earlier Classic Period but are characterized by increased banding in patterned areas (i.e., less densely integrated pattern), and serrate motifs borrowed from Hispanic or Mexican weaving. Many different colors and types of yarns (especially 4-ply Germantown yarns, a number of raveled and raveled/respun materials, handspun wool, and so on) were combined.
cochineal dye: see dyes, cochineal
combed gray: A gray wool yarn created by blending natural black and white wool fibers together.
commercial yarn: see yarn, commercial
compound bands: see bands, compound or zoned
continuous warp: see warp, continuous
design: see specific name, e.g. diamondStripe, chief blanket
diamond stripe: A band segmented diagonally into a series of rhombs or diamonds.
diagonal tapestry join: see join, diagonal tapestry
diagonal twill weave: see weave, twill, diagonal
diamond twill weave: see weave, twill, diamond
Diyugi: Navajo word meaning "soft, fluffy blanket" at the turn of the century; used by historians for the coarse, handspun wearing blankets of everyday quality, generally longer than wide, with simple patterns and coloration. Currently used by Navajos as a generic term for any handwoven rug.
double-faced: see faced, double-
double saddle blanket: see blanket, saddle
dovetailed joins: see join, dovetailed tapestry
dress, one-piece: Rectangular garment that is woven wider than long. It is worn folded in half, draped under one arm, with the upper corners being fastened over one shoulder, belted at the waist. Pueblo and the earliest Navajo dresses are of this style, in dark blue and brown-black wool twill weaves. Some Pueblo dresses have embroidered borders. Related to Manta.
dress, two-piece: Traditional garment worn by Navajo women in the nineteenth century, made of two identical, rectangular panels sewn at both shoulders and the sides, and worn belted at the waist. The design is characterized by wide red end borders, often patterned with dark blue terraced motifs, and a solid brown or black center panel.
dye: Any colorant that is absorbed into the fibers of a yarn or fabric or fixed permanently to the fibers by means of a chemical mordant; as opposed to pigments, which are simply painted onto the surface of the fibers and physically adhere to it.
dyes, aniline: A family of synthetic dyes of many colors, originally made from a coal-tar derivative called aniline. Anilines were first synthesized commercially in 1856. The earliest known aniline-dyed yarns in Navajo textiles date to 1863 and were raveled from commercial cloth. Anilines were applied to commercial machine-spun yarns that became readily available in the Southwest during the 1870s, and were sold in powdered form to be applied to Navajo handspun yarns by the 1880s.
dyes, cochineal: A crimson red dye made from the dried, crushed bodies of tiny insects from Mexico, Java, and the Canary Islands. Although the Navajo never used cochineal dye on their own handspun yarns, they raveled red cochineal-dyed yarns from imported fabrics and rewove these yarns into their own fabrics. Cochineal is also found in combination with another insect dye, lac.
dyes, indigo: A blue dye, ranging from almost blue-black to pale blue, made from several plants of the genus Indigofera. Generally, semiprocessed indigo was imported into the Southwest from Mexico in "lump" form and used by Pueblo, Navajo, and Hispanic weavers to dye their own handspun yarns.
dyes, lac: A crimson red dye derived from a resinous substance secreted by the scale insect, Laccifer lacca. The Navajo raveled yarns dyed with lac (and cochineal/lac combinations) from imported cloths and rewove these yarns into their own blankets. The earliest lac-dyed yarns found in Navajo textiles are raveled yarns that date to about 1800. In mid-nineteenth century raveled yarns, lac is frequently found in combination with cochineal. Around 1860, soon after the invention of synthetic dyes, lac all but disappears from Navajo textiles.
dyes, native: Natural dyes that are found, cultivated, and applied in the Southwest; non-synthetic dyes.
dyes, natural: Dyes of vegetal, animal, or mineral origins; non-synthetic dyes.
dyes, synthetic: Chemically manufactured dyes. There are many families of synthetic dyes, including aniline dyes.
dyes, vegetal: Dyes that use plant materials-leaves, flowers, twigs, bark, and roots-as the chief source of color.
embroidery: Ornamental needlework on fabric.
ends: The edges of a textile that parallel the warp selvages; each rectangular textile has two ends and two sides.
eye-dazzler: A bright pattern of small, serrate triangles and diamonds in intense, contrasting colors; the combination "dazzles" the eye. Most eye-dazzlers were woven between 1880 and 1910 from Germantown yarns, although some were woven from handspun yarns colored with synthetic dyes, and some were produced into the mid-twentieth century.
face: Every simple fabric has two faces or surfaces.
faced, double-: Two identical faces.
faced, single-: Only one face is meant to be displayed.
faced, two-: The two faces are dissimilar.
fleece: The coat of wool that covers a sheep.
Germantown yarn: see yarn, Germantown
handspun yarn: see yarn, handspun
herringbone twill weave: see weave, twill, herringbone
Hispanic: An ethnic designation pertaining to people with cultural origins from Spain.
Hopi brocade: Also called extra-weft wrapping; not a true brocade, but an extra-weft patterned fabric on a plain weave ground, in which colored wool wefts pass successively over groups of warps, wrapping around the last pair of each group before progressing across the fabric to form a solid colored pattern.
interlocked tapestry join: see join, interlocked tapestry
join: Refers to line where a color change is made between two design elements.
join, diagonal tapestry: Related to the slit joins but the join is progressively offset along a diagonal line; wefts do not turn around each other. The resulting slits between colors are small and inconspicuous.
join, dovetailed tapestry: Wefts of adjacent color areas are connected by turning around a common warp and not by turning around each other.; Dovetailing was the preferred form for Spanish weavers because they were using a shuttle. The Navajo and Pueblo more often used interlocking.
join, interlocked tapestry: Wefts of adjacent color areas are linked together by turning around each other between adjacent warps.
join, slit tapestry: Wefts turn around adjacent warps and create a slit between the color areas; they do not interlock or dovetail but remain independent of each other.


Upper portion illustrates use of a slit tapestry join. Lower portion illustrates use of a diagonal tapestry join.	Dovetailed tapestry join.	Interlocked tapestry join.
Tapestry weave joins. From Beyond the Loom, p. 93.

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Late Classic Period: see Classic period
lazy line: A subtle diagonal break in the weave of many Navajo fabrics where a weaver has worked on adjacent sections of warps at different times; usually spaced apart no more than the length of the batten, lazy lines allow a weaver to weave a wide fabric without having to reach from side to side with each pass of the weft. Navajo, Zuni, and Mayó Indian weavers are the only ones in the Southwest who use lazy lines; neither Hopi nor Hispanic weavers use them.; The use of lazy lines goes clear back into the 1700s, so [Navajo weavers] were capable of making pure serrate designs in a very early time period, but they didn't. Lazy lines will cut right straight across the patterns as well as across the background.
longer than wide: A reference to fabric that is woven with its length in the warp direction greater than its width in the weft direction (across the loom). Note: length always refers to the dimension in the warp direction and width always refers to the dimension in the weft direction.
manta: A garment consisting of a rectangular fabric worn draped over the shoulders as a shawl or around the body as a dress, generally worn by women. Pueblo and Navajo mantas may be plain weave or twill weaves, and are woven in a variety of patterns and colors.
meander: A linear pattern in which the design element moves in a sinuous or winding, albeit usually rectilinear, fashion. Related to the Greek fret or key pattern.
merino wool: see wool, merino
modern: Produced since 1940
modified twill weave: see weave, twill, modified
Moki stripes: (also spelled Moqui) A design of alternating black (or brown) and dark blue bands used alone or interspersed with white and/or red bands, sometimes with a superimposed design of diamonds and other geometric motifs. The term Moki derives from the Spanish name for the Hopi Indians. The Hopi rarely made blankets patterned with this type of design, although Navajo and Spanish Colonial weavers commonly employ it.
natural color: The color of undyed, untreated wool, cotton, or other textile fibers.
native dye: see dyes, native
Navajo: An ethnic designation pertaining to a group of Native Americans who arrived in the American Southwest sometime since the fourteenth century , speak an Athapascan language, and who now live principally on a reservation in parts of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and southern Utah.
nine-spot pattern: A chief blanket and sarape style in which bars, diamonds or other geometric motifs are arranged in three rows with three figures in each row. In some textiles the center row may be split into two opposing rows, in which case the design becomes a "twelve spot" pattern.
one-piece dress: see dress, one-piece
plain weave: see weave, plain
pictorial: A textile with depictions of people, animals, birds, landscapes, vehicles and any other realistic or semi-realistic images woven into the design.
ply: One continuous strand of spun fibers. In muItiple-ply yarns, two or more strands of single-ply yarn are twisted together to form a heavier, stronger yarn.


2-ply, z-spun, S-twist (2z-S)	single-ply, z-spun (z)	2-ply, s-spun, Z-twist (2s-Z)	single-ply, s-spun (s)	3-ply, z-spun, S-twist (3z-S)
Single and plied yarns. From Beyond the Loom, p. 88.

pound blanket/rug: A thickly spun, loosely woven textile, generally with a simple design in few colors. Most pound blankets or rugs were woven around 1885-1910 and were sold to traders who paid for them by the pound; this practice continued in some areas into the 1940s and later.
Pueblo: An ethnic designation pertaining to several groups of southwestern Native Americans that include the prehistoric Anasazi and the historic and modern peoples of Hopi, Zuni, Acoma, and Laguna (the western Pueblos) and the Tewa-, Tiwa-, Tanoan-, and Keres-speaking (eastern Pueblo) Indian villages along the Rio Grande in New Mexico.
raveled yarn: see yarn, raveled
saddle blanket: see blanket, saddle
saddle cover: A small textile for use on top of a saddle to cushion the seat and to decorate it; generally less heavy and more decorative than a saddle blanket; often woven in Germantown yarns and adorned along at least one edge with fringe and large tassels.
sash belt: A long, relatively narrow fabric woven in a warp float pattern weave and worn as a belt around the waist; usually red with green and black (Hopi style) or with green and white (Navajo style). The term, sash belt, is one used by Pueblo and Navajo people, and so is adopted here.
saltillo style: An elaborate blanket style of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, named for the city of Saltillo, Coahuila, in northwestern Mexico. Important features include serrate patterns, concentric diamonds, center-dominant designs, and vertical background schemes. These elements were adopted by Spanish Colonial weavers of New Mexico and further copied or modified by Navajo weavers after 1870.
Sarape: (also spelled serape) A rectangular fabric woven longer (in the warp direction) than wide (in the weft direction), about six or seven feet long and three to four feet wide. Worn draped over the shoulders or around the body, it served as a primary outer garment and as a sleeping blanket for Mexicans and Southwesterners in the nineteenth century.
Saxony yarn: see yarn, Saxony
selvage: The edge of a fabric where the wefts loop around the side warps and reenter the fabric to weave in the reverse direction and where, as in Navajo and Pueblo textiles that typically have four complete selvages (two warp selvages and two weft selvages), the warps are uncut and loop around the end wefts. Also spelled selvedge.
selvage cords: Two or more yarns that twist about each other while interlacing with and reinforcing a fabric's edge. In Navajo textiles, two 3-ply selvage cords are usually twined together, forming a 2-strand edge. In Pueblo fabrics, three 2-ply cords usually form a 3-strand, twined selvage. There are also other variations.


Pueblo*: 3-strand twining with 2-ply cords (3 2z-S).	Navajo*: 2-strand twining with 3-ply cords (2 3z-S).
The twined selvage cord technique. From Beyond the Loom, p. 89. *Predominant selvage types only; individual textiles may vary considerably.

serape

see sarape

serrate design

A pattern of diagonals formed by sharply pointed zigzag lines, frequently used on diamond shapes and other geometric figures.

sides

The edges of a textile that border the weft selvages; each rectangular textile has two sides and two ends.

single-faced

see faced, single-

shoulder blanket

see blanket, shoulder

slit tapestry join

see join, slit tapestry

Spanish Colonial

An ethnic designation pertaining to people with cultural origins from Spain who colonized major parts of the Western as well as areas of the Eastern Hemispheres.

Spider Woman's Cross

A cross-shaped motif with small squares or other geometric motifs appended to each outer corner at the cross's arms. Named after Spider Woman, who taught the Navajo to weave, according to Navajo mythology; however, the term may have been coined originally by a trader or other outsider and not by a Navajo.

Spider Woman's Hole

A small, woven-in slit occasionally seen in or near the center of Classic and Late Classic blankets. Frequently, such a slit is finished with twined selvage cords in the same manner as the textile's edges. Named after Spider Woman, who taught the Navajo to weave, according to Navajo mythology; however, the term may have been coined originally by a trader or other outsider and not by a Navajo. Associated with similar purposes as the "Weaver's Pathway."

spinning

The process of drawing out and twisting a group of relatively short fibers into a continuous strand to form a yarn or thread. The two possible directions of spin are noted by the letters S and Z because the angle of spin in a yarn can be represented by the slanting direction of the central portion of each letter. The following notation is used:

z or s Single-ply z-spun or s-spun yarn.
Z or S Direction of final twist of a multiple-ply yarn; when used alone, indicates that the number of plies and direction of spin for each ply have not been determined; if the number of plies is known, the notation may read 3S, 2Z, and so forth;
z-S z-spun, S-twist, two-ply yarn; comparable notations are z-Z, s-Z, and s-S;
3z-S z-spun, S-twist, three-ply yarn; comparable notations are 4z-S, 3s-Z, and so forth. (Kent 1985:117).

All native spun yarn in the Southwest is z-spun, and a good bit of the raveled yarn, particularly the late raveled yarn, is also z. But if it is s-spun, it is almost certainly raveled yarn. At least 99 percent of all s-spun yarn in the Southwest was raveled.

spirit line

see weaver's pathway

stripe

A design element that extends across a textile in the direction of its warps and parallel to its side selvages; opposed to a band, which is oriented horizontally, following the direction of the wefts.

synthetic dyes

see dyes, synthetic

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tapestry weave

see weave, tapestry

terraced stepped

design elements that often form rectilinear diagonals, as in terraced triangles, diamonds, and zigzags.

trade cloth

Commercially manufactured fabric, imported into the Southwest.

Transitional period (1880-1900)

A time when the production of Navajo blankets made for native consumption and for trade to other peoples who would wear them was changing to the production of rugs, other home furnishings, and souvenirs for sale to outsiders. Weaving of this period is characterized by the use of many new materials (a continuation of the Late Classic trend), Germantown yarns, bright colors, bordered patterns, and heavier spinning and weaving in order to conform to the requirements of a carpet rather than a wearing blanket.

tufted

A weaving technique in which extra pieces of yarn or long fibers are inserted into the background fabric during the process of weaving, producing a shaggy pile effect.

twelve-spot pattern

A chief blanket and sarape style in which bars, diamonds, or other geometric motifs are arranged in four rows with three figures in each row. Related to the "nine-spot pattern."

twill

see weave, twill

twining

A weaving technique in which pairs (or more) of yarns twist around each other while enclosing a second set of yarns within each turn or half-turn. In Pueblo and Navajo weaving, all four selvages often have a set of selvage cords that are twined about each other while enclosing either the looped warps or wefts, depending upon whether it is the warp or weft selvage. (see selvage)

two-faced

see faced, two-

two-piece dress

see dress, two-piece

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Vallero star

An eight pointed star motif often depicted in several alternating colors. Named for the Rio Grande Valley from which many Spanish Colonial blankets using this motif came, although Navajo and other weavers use it too. It is presumed by some to be derived originally from a pattern frequently seen in early American patchwork quilts.

vegetal dye

see dyes, vegetal

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warp

The parallel yarns that are strung on a loom and form the foundation onto which the weft yarns are woven.

warp, continuous

A weaving system in which a warp yarn is wound back and forth across the loom frame so as to create a "closed system" with no cut threads; used to produce an uncut four-selvage fabric such as that made by Pueblo and Navajo weavers, and also produced on backstrap looms from other parts of the world.

warp-faced weave

see weave, warp-faced

warp float pattern weave

see weave, warp float pattern

weave

To interlace yarns together to form a fabric.

weave, balanced

Warps and wefts are the same size and equally spaced.

weave, plain

Each weft passes over one warp, then under the next warp in a regular sequence.

weave, weft-faced

Wefts conceal the warps.

weave, warp-faced

Warps conceal the wefts.

weave, tapestry

A weft-faced plain weave in which differently colored pattern areas are formed by wefts worked in separate sections; weft-faced plain weave with discontinuous wefts. There are many ways of connecting adjacent color areas. See also join; join, slit tapestry; join, diagonal tapestry; join, interlocked tapestry; join, dovetailed tapestry; weave, twill.

weave, twill

float weave in which wefts pass over two or more warps and the floats for each successive pass are usually aligned diagonally.

weave, twill, diagonal

floats progress in one direction creating a diagonal texture in the fabric.

weave, twill, herringbone

float diagonals in alternate directions to form a zigzag pattern.

weave, twill, diamond

floats diverge to form a diamond- shaped pattern.

weave, twill, modified

floats have an irregular arrangement and no diagonal alignment results.

weave, warp float pattern

Warp-faced technique used by Pueblo and Navajo weavers for making belts, in which some of the warp yarns create a pattern by floating over more than one weft at a time.

weave, wedge

(eccentric weave) An unusual weave found in some blankets of the late nineteenth century in which wefts are placed at oblique rather than right angles to the warp to form a series of diagonal, zigzag or diamond patterns. Because the warp yarns are generally forced out of their normal vertical position, the edges of the blanket become scalloped. Also called a "pulled warp weave."

weaver's pathway

A small thin line that extends from the center design field across the border to the outside edge of some rugs; the line is frequently placed near a corner and made of the same color as the center field's background. Also called the spirit line. Associated with the belief of allowing the energy and spirit woven into a particular textile to be released in order for the weaver to have the energy and imagination to continue weaving other textiles.

wedge weave

see weave, wedge

weft

The yarns that are interlaced with, that is, woven over and under the warp yarns; the warp and weft yarns are usually placed at right angles to each other.

weft-faced weave

see weave, weft-faced

wider than long

A reference to fabric that is woven with its width in the weft direction (across the loom) greater than its length in the warp direction. Note: width always refers to the dimension in the weft direction and length always refers to the dimension in the warp direction.

woman's blanket

see blanket, woman's

wool

Curly fibers that form the fleece of sheep.

wool, churro

A soft, long, lustrous wool with little grease or crimp, easy to work by hand. The churro breed of sheep was originally brought from Andalusia to the Southwest by the Spanish in 1598. This wool appears most frequently in blankets made before the 1880s.

wool, merino

Wool from a Spanish sheep breed introduced by the United States government during the 1880s along with the French Rambouillet breed. These short, curly, and greasy wools were difficult to work by hand but superior for producing textiles by machine.

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yarn

Cordage made of fibers twisted together in a continuous length.

yarn, commerical

Machine-spun yarns, usually industrially dyed; manufactured by a non native industrial process and obtained through a trading post, store, or other outlet of commerce.

yarn, Germantown

Commercial 3-ply and 4-ply American-manufactured yarn colored with aniline dyes; originally made in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Three-ply yarns were issued to the Navajos beginning in 1864 and replaced by 4-ply versions around 1875. Both types were colored with a wide range of synthetic dyes and used in Transitional Period blankets, rugs, pillow covers, and other novelty items. The use of 4-ply Germantown yarns was discouraged by traders after 1900 but persisted well into the twentieth century anyway. The Pueblos also used Germantown yarns in their embroidery, brocade weaves, and sash belts.

yarn, handspun

Usually a yarn of native manufacture, spun on a shaft-and-whorl hand spindle or on a hand- or treadle-operated spinning wheel. In contrast to industrial machine-spun yarns, which are designated as commercial.

yarn, raveled

Yarn obtained by unweaving a fabric by separating the warps and wefts. These yarns can then be rewoven directly into another fabric, or can be carded and respun to form entirely different yarns. See also bayeta

yarn, Saxony

Fine 3-ply yarn spun from the wool of merino sheep and dyed with natural dyes. These yarns were produced in Saxony, a former German state, and in England, France, and New England during the first half of the nineteenth century. After 1821, Saxony yarns were imported to the Southwest by way of the Santa Fe Trail. They were used by the Spanish for color accents and, about mid-century , by the Navajos for general weaving. In southwestern weaving, most Saxony yarn is limited to one shade of red.

Anything 3-ply was called Saxony in the early days, but it ain't.

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zoned bands

see bands, compound or zoned

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