Buffalo lodge weaving based on a Blackfoot design.

For over 110 years Indian blankets have been made for Indians, not by them! One of the reasons for the popularity of these products among the Native peoples is the care taken by the pattern designers to learn about the native mythologies. In the earliest years, designers spent time with the native peoples of northeastern Oregon to learn patterns that could be made into blanket designs using the jacquard looms. This small woolen sham is a "Beaver State" blanket, one of two blanket lines made by Pendleton that uses virgin wool. The "Buffalo Lodge" design of the blanket associated with this sham includes the buffalo and tepee. According to Blackfoot legend, many painted tepees were given to the Plains Indians in dreams by animals-- among the earliest, the buffalo. Red represents the earth and black, the night sky. The reversible pattern has a green design on one side; black on red images on the other. In pre-Columbian North America, blankets were made from hides or pelts of smaller animals which had been sewn together or woven from wool, feathers, down, bark and cotton and, in some areas, shredded cedar bark. When the Europeans came to this country and bartered with the native peoples, wool blankets had great value in trading. Most of the earlier trading blankets were plaids and block designs. Jacquard loomed Pendleton Indian blankets with their brilliant colors and sharp details became very popular after their introduction into what was known as the "Indian trade."