The new Zagat Survey for Portland hit the inbox this week…

January 24, 2013September 22, 2021 / pendletonwoolenmills / Leave a comment

…and we are in it!

The Zagat Survey was brainchild of Tim and Nina Zagat, who polled their friends and published the results in 1979 as a way to locate the best dining experiences in New York City. The survey quickly grew beyond their immediate circle of friends, and has come to include over 70 cities, including Portland.

Over a quarter of a million people have contributed their opinions and comments on restaurants, hotels, theaters, golf courses, and shopping. The bound guide is available by subscription, a handy and handsome publication to carry along to your favorite city. The Zagat.com site is free to the public.

Pendleton in Zagat

So how did we do? Very well, thank you. The ratings are on a thirty-point scale, and the higher, the better. We are happy to say that the downtown Portland Pendleton store scored very highly. So did the flagship Pendleton Home store. And, now that we think of it, so did the Woolen Mill Store.

Yes, we had a trifecta of nice Zagat scores. We got a kick out of the quotations from survey-answerers, which are set off in quotes. Our staff “goes above and beyond.” Our “incredible quality” is “hard to beat.”

Our favorite quote? “It’s a Pendleton…enough said.”

Made in USA label with eagle for Pendleton

Customized with Pendleton Plaid!

January 10, 2013September 22, 2021 / pendletonwoolenmills / 4 Comments

Sea Mist Plaid

One of our customers, Jeremy Fisher, brought in his classic Volkswagen Squareback to show us how he’s customized the interior in Sea Mist Plaid fabric purchased from the Woolen Mill Store.

Jeremy is a golf pro (see his gearshift), and wanted his car to reflect his lifestyle & love of golf.

Great work, Jeremy! Come see us at the Woolen Mill Store whenever you’re struck with inspiration.

Pendleton and Lindsey Thornburg: Art that Tells a Story

September 25, 2012September 17, 2021 / pendletonwoolenmills / 3 Comments

A Fresh Viewpoint

Designer Lindsey Thornburg is a former philosophy student who grew up in Colorado and Montana. She has been working with Pendleton fabrics since 2008, when she returned from a trip to Machu Picchu and started bringing her inspirations to life with vintage Pendleton blankets from her father’s Montana home. The cloaks she makes use familiar Pendleton patterns, geometrically realigned for a completely new (and utterly stunning) effect.

The Cloaks

Cloak by Lindsey Thornburg made from a Raven blanket

Lindsey brought her work to NYC in 2008. Her signature cloaks were featured on street style blogs and the mainstream press sat up and took notice. Thornburg continued to use Pendleton fabrics for her first cloak collections, making trips across the country to personally select fabrics at the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store. “Pendleton is the American wool company making the best textiles in the game,” says Lindsey. “People are inquisitive about Pendleton. Its iconic fabrics are now seen on the streets of New York and across America.”

In 2012, Ms. Thornburg and Pendleton have made it official with a new co-brand, Pendleton by Lindsey Thornburg. The new collection is available early fall in specialty boutiques, the Pendleton Home Store in Portland, Oregon, online and in the Pendleton Home catalog.

“We have been watching Lindsey since first meeting her in 2007,” says Robert Christnacht, Pendleton’s Home Division manager. “She honors the Pendleton fabric with her creative cloak designs.”

Lindsey Thornburg cloak made from a Los Ojos blanket

Lindsey is just as excited to be working with Pendleton. “It is an honor to be working with a company that is over 100 years old and incorporates Native American ideals. I am inspired by them, and love their American fabrics.” Lindsey adds, “Look at the Chief Joseph image. The photo expresses the same idea; a blanket covering for practical reasons. I give the blanket sleeves, adding a modern twist on how they would want a blanket to be used.”

“It’s art that tells a story.”

Stitch magazine – creating with fabric + thread, and Pendleton, too!

August 17, 2012September 17, 2021 / pendletonwoolenmills / 7 Comments

Stitch Magazine

The latest issue of Stitch has a “Spotlight on Wool,” and Pendleton and our Woolen Mill Store are featured all through it! If you’ve ever had any questions about how to sew with wool, this issue of Stitch has the answers. From the rich history of American wool fabrics, to wool quilting and making your first wool coat, the Spotlight on Wool issue is full of project ideas, information and inspiration.

We’re lucky to have four Portland wool experts featured in this issue.

Susan Beal – “History of Wool in America” & “How Wool Fabric is Made”

Susan is a well-known quilter and crafter, whose recent book, Modern Log Cabin Quilting, features a Pendleton quilt. She is the president of Portland Modern Quilt Guild, and a frequent instructor on Wool Quilting at the Woolen Mill Store. Her custom baby quilt design using Pendleton Wool is sold at the store. Her articles for this issue draw on her textile expertise, and we are delighted to be featured in both.

Spread in Stitch Magazine featuring the history of Pendleton's mills

Michelle Freedman – “Go-Retro Wool Quilt” project & instructions

Michelle, a quilt and pattern designer, is a graduate of Parsons The New School for Design. She loves vintage hand sewing, which inspires her modern quilt designs. She works in the Embroidery Dept at Pendleton Woolen Mill Store, teaches craft classes at the store & sews projects for us. Michelle’s Go-Retro Quilt was inspired by a 1950s Temporama coffee cup.

Pendleton Eco-Wise Wool fabrics and a vintage coffee cup

She recognized that the Eco-Wise wool color palette matched the cup’s colors. Michelle says the Eco-Wise sews like butter and swears by the ease of using wool for sewing projects, especially this darling quilt which is on its way back to the store soon for display.

Linda Turner Griepentrog – “Sewing Wool Coating”

Linda is a Contributing Editor of Stitch, and owner of G Wiz Creative Services. This article provides great information on which coating wool is best suited for your coat project, like how to match weight with weave. All the pictured wools are Pendleton.

Linda’s Sew-and-Go Poncho on pg. 50 uses our Royal Blue Melton and Squash Eco-Wise fabrics.

Daniela Caine – “Northwest Modern Laptop Cover” project & instructions

Daniela is a fantastic pattern designer who designed this laptop cover in Pendleton jacquard and leather.

She also designed this adorable kid’s coat using our Walking Rock fabric.

Front and back views of a child's coat, modeled by an adorable little girl

Daniela’s expertise extends to quilting as well as pattern making, and she is published in Susan Beal’s Modern Log Cabin Quilting.

We are so proud of our designers and their terrific projects that showcase our Pendleton textiles. Stitch is available in our store, so stop by and get yours. As you read through the magazine, keep an eye out for the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store ad, with fabrics that will be featured on the store’s blog next week. And don’t forget the Fall Fabric Sale starting 9/4/2012 – that will be our largest fabric sale event of the year!

Timberline Lodge 75th Anniversary Celebration – a history, a blanket, a showcase

July 27, 2012September 17, 2021 / pendletonwoolenmills / 1 Comment

75 Years

Timberline Lodge, Oregon’s most historic and beautiful ski lodge, celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2012. Pendleton Woolen Mills will help Friends of Timberline celebrate the anniversary with an elegant blanket that bears a special commemorative label.

Design for the Timberline Lodge commemorative blanekt, by Pendleton

Special commemorative patch for the blanket, which reads "Friends of Timberline Collector's blanket - a tribute to Timberline Lodge and the people who built it. Celebrating its lasting place upon the rugged landscape and honoring the outstanding efforts of the WPA.

Lodge History

Timberline Lodge was constructed on the south slope of Mount Hood in Oregon by the Works Progress Administration. Better known as the WPA, this government agency employed millions of workers during the Great Depression with projects that improved the country’s infrastructure. Timberline Lodge was an experiment; a chance for both skilled and unskilled workers to contribute to a project that went beyond basic public works like housing and roads.

A vintage postcard image of skiiers outside Timberline Lodge

There is no other building in the nation quite like Timberline Lodge. It is the only twentieth-century public building of its size that was constructed and furnished entirely by hand. All the woodwork, wrought iron, weaving, painting, mosaic, and more were done by skilled craftspeople and their WPA apprentices. Materials for the construction were sourced locally: wood for construction and furniture, stone for exteriors and fireplaces, locally grown fibers for upholstery, bedspreads, and draperies.The lodge is not just an inn, but a museum that permanently exhibits the finest design, painting, and craft work of the 1930s.

When Friends of Timberline was founded in 1975, one of the goals was to sponsor skilled crafters to replicate “in the spirit of the original” the 1930’s WPA era textiles designed for Timberline Lodge. This included hand-hooked rugs made of burlap and wool. To replicate them, the Bishop family, owners of Pendleton Woolen Mills, generously donated Pendleton woolen fabric scraps. Volunteer Northwest craftspeople painstakingly made over one hundred hand-hooked rugs in Primitive style. Dedication and pride are in every piece. The rugs were in Timberline Lodge guestrooms for many years.

Anniversaries and Celebrations

The connection forged between the historic woolen mill and the historic lodge continues as these Northwest institutions mark important anniversaries: Pendleton Woolen Mills’ 100^th in 2009, and Timberline’s 75^th in 2012. You can help us celebrate at the Timberline Lodge 75^th Anniversary Showcase at the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store on McLoughlin Boulevard in Portland. The Showcase will feature furniture, photography, artwork, textiles, and other crafts created by hand for Timberline Lodge. Hand-hooked rugs, woven blankets, and more from the Friends of Timberline collection will be on display for the entire month of August.

Kicking off the month-long event will be a Trunk Show and reception at the Woolen Mill Store and Trunk Show on Thursday, August 2^nd from 6-9pm. The reception will feature demonstrations by weavers, rug hookers, and wood carvers who continue to be involved with the Timberline Lodge restoration efforts. Local authors Jonathan Tullis and Sarah Baker Munro will be on hand to sign copies of Timberline Lodge, A Love Story (Diamond Jubilee Edition) and Timberline Lodge, The History Art & Craft of an American Icon, respectively. The Showcase and Trunk Show is free and open to the public.

Hitting the Runway at Oregon State University

May 24, 2012September 8, 2021 / pendletonwoolenmills / Leave a comment

The University Runway

On Friday May 25th, the OSU design students will put on their eighth annual runway show. Student collections for Spring will be shown to peers, faculty and family, as well as representatives from Oregon apparel companies.

Last year, the star of the show was Amanda Grisham, who was also selected as one of Portland Monthly’s “Fifty Most Influential Portlanders.”

Portland Monthly spread featuring Amanda Grisham

The Collection

Amanda’s collection featured Pendleton fabrics from Pendleton’s Woolen Mill Store. She went on to win Portland Fashion Week’s Catapult: Emerging Designers Competition.

Portland Monthly spread featuring clothing in pendleton wool designed by Amanda Grisham

On Friday night, all eyes will be watching to see who Oregon’s next rising star might be. Enjoy this look at Amanda’s work from 2011. We are probably just as proud of it as she is.

Pendleton Woolen Mills

Since 1863

the woolen mill store