THE PUEBLO
While Navajo weaving has been well-documented, Pueblo weaving, the parent industry from which it blossomed, has not been treated with the same level of consideration. Pueblo is a cultural designation referring to several groups of prehistoric and historic indigenous people who shared similar cultural and physical environments. The term also refers to the type of communal housing structures common amongst them. Today, the Pueblo include the Hopi of Arizona, and the Zuni, Keresan, and Tanoan-speaking people of New Mexico (Whitaker c2002).
Traditionally, Pueblo men wove and the women created pottery. Pueblo men, for the most part, continued to weave traditional forms of clothing for their own people. However, with the widespread adoption of Western clothing for everyday wear, traditional Pueblo textiles came to be maintained through ceremonial and religious contexts. Although Puebloan men were traditionally the ones who wove, women produced smaller articles of backstrap or waist looms, such as belts, hair ties, and garters. It must also be noted that women were the traditional custodians of the sheep (Fox 1978: 17).
With the Spanish arrival in the sixteenth century, Pueblo weavers were supplied with domesticated wool, that in certain cases, was being used in the place of cotton by the seventeenth century (Fox 1978: 14-15). From about 1600 to the arrival of the railroads and machine-made fabrics in the late 1800s, Pueblo textile arts flourished. Examples of the types of garments made include mantas, shoulder blankets, breechcloths, belts, and headbands.
The manta (a Spanish word meaning “mantle”) is a flat rectangular piece of fabric worn by Pueblo women not only as a mantle or shawl but also as a wrap-around dress. The first featured Pueblo textile on this page (2148-582), is a Puebloan manta which is designated as a “Woman’s dress” on UT’s DASe and alternately as “Woman’s dress-shawl.” For a more in-depth discussion of this garment see below.
Pueblo textiles are primarily longer-than-wider, most were loosely woven with coarsely spun yarns and patterns in thin or broad bands of colored stripes and occasionally motifs, alternating with solid-colored bands of gray, white, or brown (Whitaker c2002: 336; Kent 1985: 26). Navajo weaving is largely differentiated from Pueblo by their use of a tight weft-faced weave that produces a waterproof effect (Kent 1985: 24). The Pueblo used both narrow and wide looms to weave a variety of garments in twill and plain weaves, some were later decorated by dyeing in several colors, painting, or embroidery (Wheat c2003: 28).
Pueblo weavers employed natural vegetal and mineral dyes before the arrival of machine-made fabrics and commercial aniline dyes. Indigo is one of the most important dyes used by Pueblo weavers, it generally appears as a deep blue, but when mixed with yellow it produces a dark green. After these alternatives became available, bayeta, a cochineal red dyed trade flannel woven in England and then traded through Mexico into the Southwest, became widely popular (Fox 1978: 25). Its individual threads were unraveled and respun to achieve a rich red yarn. During this period at the end of the 1800s, three-ply Saxony yarn was vegetal dyed, and only a short time later, aniline dyed domestic yarns such as the four-ply known as “Germantown” were at the forefront. Additionally, cotton string became available at trading posts and was sometimes utilized in place of handspun versions.
About this time, at the close of the nineteenth century, Pueblo weavers occasionally began to forsake traditional concepts in favor of “Navajo” styles, which had begun selling to non-native markets and even to the Pueblo themselves. One distinguishable feature of modern Pueblo blankets is that they lack the “lazy line” which is frequently seen in Navajo textiles (Foz 1978: 68) (Kent 1985: 27). Also at this time, the Pueblo began producing rugs made for sale and woman began weaving garments traditionally only made by men (Fox 1978: 70). The decline in demand for handwoven and embroidered textiles led to a decline in certain communities of Puebloan peoples, however the second half of the twentieth century saw several revival attempts that have had some success, but the amount of encouragement and financial support have varied (Fox 1978: 74-76).
The Loom
The vertical, upright, or blanket loom is the type of loom most closely associated with Pueblo weavers. The weaver sits on the ground in front of the loom and progresses from bottom to top. Generally, the weaver will complete the lower half before reversing the position of the loom to begin again at the opposite end, finishing near the center (Fox 1978: 30-31).
Types of Weave
Twill and plain weave: Both twill and plain weave are among important weaving techniques to the Pueblo. A twill weave is created by passing the weft thread over two or more warp threads and then repeating that pattern one warp thread over so that a diagonal line is formed. Plain weave is the most common and tightest of basic weave structures which is made by passing each filling threads over and under successive warp threads, with each row alternating, producing a high number of intersections.
Warp-faced weave: While most weaving is weft-faced, warp-faced textiles are created using densely packed warp threads. In these the design is in the warp, requiring all colors to be decided upon and placed during the first part of the weaving process. These weavings are defined by lengthwise stripes and vertical designs. This specialized form of weaving was used by women to manufacture belts and small woven ties (Fox 1978: 39).
Decorative Techniques
Brocade: Brocade is introduced during the weaving process and only appears on the fabric face. The background is often twill or plain weave. The Puebloan use of brocade has been considered “semi-brocade” because it is not characterized by an overall reversal of pattern on the underside (Fox 1978: 41).
Back-stitch embroidery: Back-stitch embroidery is characterized by individual stitches that are made backward to the general direction of sewing. The reverse of a textile with back-stitch displays a dotted effect (Fox 1978: 44).
Designs
Striped and plaid patterns are characteristic of shoulder blankets worn by males. One of the most based designs is the division of the decorative field into zones of different widths and varying patterns within those zones (Foz 1978: 46). Pueblo textiles most commonly feature geometric designs, often times red, yellow, blue, and green yarns contrast dark blue and black yarns.
Featured Textile: 2148-582
This woman’s dress or shawl has wide bands of overdyed indigo along its long edges in a diamond design weave. The center in twill woven in a brown-to-black color with a narrow red strip around all four edges and two lengthwise red bands. The red bands have a zigzag pattern comprised of a brown-to-black triangle chain with a serrated scroll element attached. There are red blocks interspersed at the tops of the bands and red stars in the bands of overdyed indigo. Additionally, there are red zigzag lines along edges and tufts of black fringe at its corners.
It has been classified on DASe as being an example of Western Puebloan Style, which includes the Hopi and Zuni. The digitized file provided here shows how the garment has conflicting designations as to which group of Puebloan peoples possibly created it. Although it was originally noted as belonging to the Zuni, a handwritten note out to the side says, “probably not maybe [Zuni] Acoma.” However, in the same handwriting, additional notes read, “Not Zuni embroidery style - Zuni would not twist embroidery threads,” with a reference to Kate Peck Kent’s Pueblo Indian Textiles: A Living Tradition, 1983, and “Acoma style twists thread.” Nevertheless, the garment is generally referred to as “Pueblo” on UT’s DASe.
Keywords
Dress/ shawl, bands, indigo, diamond design weave, twill weave, brown-to-black, red, zigzag, serrated scrolls, blocks, stars, fringe at its corners, Western Puebloan Style
Featured Textile: 2148-599
This rug or utility blanket is woven in a coarse twill weave with a cotton warp and wool weft. It boats broad patterned stripes with varying sizes of serrated zigzag bands comprised of two bands of solid color. The background is dark orange with narrow stripes of dark brown, light orange, and tan. Some stripes composed of alternating parallelograms in orange and brown.
Between UT’s DASe and the original documentation, there are conflicting designations as to which group of Southwestern Native Americans this textile belongs to. It has been classified on DASe as being an example of Western Puebloan Style, as with the first featured textile on this page. However, the digitized file provided here shows how the garment was originally classified as “Navaho ([probably] made for Hopi).” There are no elaborations provided as to the change in classification or as to why it was originally considered to be Navajo. However, based on the loose, coarsely spun yarns in a diagonal twill weave with no lazy lines, this textile is most likely Pueblo.
Keywords
Rug/ utility blanket, coarse twill weave, cotton warp, wool weft, patterned stripes, serrated zigzag bands, dark orange, dark brown, light orange, tan, Western Puebloan Style
