Blake Lively

Happy Earth Day from Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool®

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Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool

A bed with layered Eco-wise wool bed blankets

There are many, many products out there claiming to be green. From the sheep to the shelf, Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool® passes strict standards of sustainability and stewardship, verified and certified. This means that if you were to take a Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool® blanket and bury it, it would leave the earth better, not worse, for the addition. That’s a nice way to explain it, but we make blankets for you to use, not to bury. Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool® products are designed to be delightful to touch, easy to care for and beautifully colored. And they are woven in the USA of 100% virgin wool.

Throws and Blankets

Let’s start with our newest throws for 2016. The Wool Herringbone throw is a classic herringbone weave that has enough pattern and texture to be interesting, but works well with any of our solids, stripes or plaids.

Ec-wise wool herringbone throws

Also, we have bed blankets in the beautiful ombre plaids you think of when you think of Pendleton.

Eco-wise ombre plaid bed blankets

Be sure to check out the classic plaids, stripes and checks, too.

These new block plaids coordinate with the stripes, and they are just begging to be thrown over the arm of your sofa.

Eco-wise black plaid throws

The block plaid throws coordinate back to our one-color Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool® bed blankets. Here are some of our solids and heathers.

all eco-wise wool solid color bed blankets

Wool is a perfect choice for top-of-bed. There is a subtlety to the texture, nothing shiny or artificial about it, and the colors will remain true forever. Go warm with with traditional plaids, rustic with stripes and heathers, or keep it contemporary with checks. We have you and your bed totally covered.

So give us a  visit  and see all our colorful ways to be green.

Happy Earth Day with Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool®: Sustainable, Beautiful, Responsible

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It’s not easy being green…

…but it’s worth it.

A bed covered with multiple layers of Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool washable bed blankets.

There are many, many products out there claiming to be green. From the sheep to the shelf, Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool® passes strict standards of sustainability and stewardship, verified and certified. This means that if you were to take a Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool® blanket and bury it, it would leave the earth better, not worse, for the addition. That’s a nice way to explain it, but we make blankets for you to use, not to bury. Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool® products are designed to be delightful to touch, easy to care for and beautifully colored. And they are woven in the USA of 100% virgin wool.

Spring 2015

Let’s start with our new Spring throws. These are all about the fun. These fringed throws come with a leather carrier, making this the perfect take-along blanket for your trips, picnics, hikes or sporting events. Best of all, they’re washable, so if your fun involves spills, sloshes, crumbs or mud, you’re covered. Just put it in the washing machine, even though it’s 100% virgin wool. We have two colorations of our classic Surf Plaid, and our new WoolDenim which looks like ring-spun denim, front and back.

Fringed Throws w Leather Carrier

Also new for Spring, we have washable fringed throws in the beautiful ombre plaids you think of when you think of Pendleton.

Ombre Throws

Be sure to check out the classic colors, too. Blocks, checks, plaids; these are just begging to be thrown over the arm of your sofa.

Bed Blankets

Our throws coordinate coordinate back to our Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool® bed blankets. Here are the solids and heathers.

All washable bed blankets for 2015

Wool is a perfect choice for top-of-bed. There is a subtlety to the texture, nothing shiny or artificial about it, and the colors will remain true forever. Check out the bed blankets in stripes and plaids. There are accent pillows, fabric by-the-yard, window panels and more available in Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool®.  Go warm with with traditional plaids, rustic with stripes and heathers, or keep it contemporary with checks. We have you and your bed totally covered. 

Blake Lively agrees!

blake-lively-august-2014-

So give us a  visit  and see all our colorful ways to be green.

Some Lindsey Thornburg and Pendleton News

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Celebrity Spotted

Lindsey Thornburg is in the news again with her beautiful cloaks made with Pendleton wool. Blake Lively was caught by the paparazzi in a cloak made with the Raven blanket.

blake-lively-red-coat-nyc

(images of Blake Lively courtesy eonline and Us magazine)

Where to Buy It

You can find this cloak for sale at Blake’s Preserve.us site, where she has curated her favorite American products. And here’s the blanket, available at pendleton-usa.com.

Black-Raven blanket

RAVEN

The Raven blanket is a fine example of Coast Indian artistic style. Here’s the legend behind the pattern:

North American Indian folklore reflects the many stories surrounding animal spirits. Every animal has a reason for existence and a legend of how and why they are on Mother Earth. Raven is the counterpart of Coyote. Even though Raven can be an expert trickster, often fooling other animals out of food or shelter, Raven can also be a friend when other animals need help. With sharp eyes, he has a keen skill of knowing when danger lurks. Raven identifies the danger and notifies all other animals in the desert or forest to be cautious or to hide. Raven is a solid reminder and teacher of the good versus evil and is always available if there is a decision to be made. The Blanket exemplifies the black colored feathers of Raven; the red color of potential danger that surrounds him. The blanket is bordered with the Sun, Moon and Stars that are celestial facets of Raven’s life.

More Collaborative Blankets?

Lindsey has also done a collaborative blanket with us based on hand-dyed devoré velvet fabric designed by Lindsey and created by Tye Dye Mary®.

Lindsey_Thornburg_Tie_Dye_blanket

Isn’t that amazing? Lindsey works with so many fabric artists to produce her line, and we are excited to be one of them.

We hope you’re having a terrific December, and that you’re staying warm, wherever you are. Like Blake. Who is looking fabulous and staying warm in Pendleton wool.

Blake Lively in the Raven cloak

(images of Blake Lively courtesy eonline and Us magazine)

Made in USA label with eagle for Pendleton

Pendleton’s Tamiami Trail Blanket and Seminole Patchwork

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A Modern Favorite based on Historical Treasures

Tamiami_Trail_Frnt blanket

Pendleton’s Tamiami Trail blanket has been making some noise this year, showing up on the pages of Lucky:

web_lucky_10_14 Lucky Magazine spread featuring several Pendleton blankets

InStyle:

web_instyle_7_14 InStyle magazine spread featuring the Tamiami Trail blanket

And DOMINO:

Domino magazine spread featuring several Pendleton blankets

The most exciting appearance was on Blake Lively, wearing a Lindsey Thornburg cloak that you can find on preserve.us.

Blake-Lively-leggy-in-boots--wearing a Lindsey Thornburg cape made from a Pendleton Tamiami Trail blanket

That’s quite a bit of press for one blanket. People are responding to the intricate, colorful pattern, but there is a story behind the Tamiami Trail blanket. And it isn’t just a good story. It’s an amazing story about resourcefulness and creativity thriving in diaspora.

The History

Tamiami Trail’s design is based on Seminole patchwork designs used in quilts and clothing. By the end of the Seminole Wars in 1858, the Seminole population of Florida was reduced from thousands to a few hundred. By the late 1800s, most had been driven out of Florida, but small bands remained in the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp. Seminoles quietly retained their culture — farming, hunting alligators and visiting trading posts along the Miami River with pelts and egret plumes to trade for supplies. Their thatch-roofed homes were called chickees, and they traveled in dugout canoes made from cypress logs.

It was a long canoe trip from the Everglades to trade for cotton cloth. Seminole women began sewing with whatever materials and scraps they could find, including survey pennants, fabric selvedges and end-bolts. The patterns themselves tell stories.

Click here to read about  the symbology of these patterns.

Vintage tourist postcard of a man and woman wearing traditional Seminole strip clothing

“Strip clothing” became the traditional dress for Seminole men and women.

Below is a Seminole strip dress from the permanent collection of the Met.

A Seminole strip dress in the permanent collection of the Met museum, photo courtesy of the Met

The sewing machine became available to Seminole seamstresses around the end of the 19th century. “A sewing machine in every chickee” was the rallying cry. Seminole quilting evolved using ever-smaller and more intricate piecing.

A Seminole seamsress sews garments on a sewing machine

In 1928 the Tamiami Trail, the highway from Tampa to Miami, opened. The Seminole saw new trade opportunities in the tourist market for crafts such as patchwork and palmetto dolls.

A museum display of tourist dolls dressed in Seminole strip dresses
Vintage tourist postcard of Seminole people in strip clothing

So yes, This is a beautiful blanket. But its design tells a larger story about a beautiful Seminole artistic tradition. Their entrepreneurial success along the Tamiami Trail is a testimony to Seminole resilience. Strip clothing is still made and worn today, and it’s every bit as beautiful.

Modern Seminole strip dresses

Additional information here:

http://www.colliermuseums.com/history/seminole_patchwork

http://www.semtribe.com/

http://funandsun.com/1tocf/seminole/semart2.html

In Other Style News: Blake Lively in Lindsey Thornburg x Pendleton Cape

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Yes, that’s the beautiful Blake Lively in a Lindsey Thornburg cloak!

Blake-Lively-leggy-in-boots--courtesy US magazine

Our Tamiami Trail blanket makes a beautiful outerwear piece.

Tamiami_Trail_Frnt
Blake-Lively-leggy-in-boots--courtesy US magazine

Blake Lively, fashion icon, offered this cloak on her Preserve.us website, but it appears to be sold out. Check Lindsey’s website! And be sure to read about Lindsey Thornburg’s inspirations on our blog. Her beautiful cloaks are dramatic innovations on the tradition of blanket coats that stretches back to medieval times in Europe. And centuries ago in the Americas, Native weavers made outerwear of their blankets, and adapted the styles to manufactured Trade blankets when they were introduced in the late 1800s. We have to tell you this stuff because we’re Pendleton, and we go back a ways with blankets.

But enough history lessons.

For now, just enjoy those photos of a beautiful woman in a beautiful cloak.

Made in USA label with eagle for Pendleton