Help identify this handwoven striped blanket/rug

Not exactly fashion I guess – so I hope it's OK posting this here – but I figure that those who are knowledgeable about vintage fashion may also be knowledgeable about related items such as this. Can anyone shed light on its geographical/cultural origins? Era?

Here's what I *can* work out for myself:

- It's wool.

- It was hand-loomed: no two sections are identical; and most importantly it's made up of several narrow strips of fabric that have been stitched together to make up the full piece (as you would expect when dealing with fabric made on a small hand loom).

Other info:

- It measures roughly 95 x 60 inches. Made up of three 20 inch strips.

- If its intended use is as a blanket it's a fairly heavy and itchy one. If it's a carpet/rug, it's not a very thick/sturdy one. Perhaps it's just meant to hang on the wall?

- Where I found it (a vintage store in SE Asia) doesn't help much in terms of identifying its origin. Firstly wool is not used in local traditional textiles, and secondly SE Asia is a major importer of vintage clothing etc. from the US and Japan (although the majority are from the US, so perhaps this is the most likely source...but not necessarily where it ultimately originates from).

- Although superficially the design doesn't seem too far removed from some Navajo blankets, it doesn't appear to display any of the tell-tale signs you'd expect to find on a genuine native American textile (but I certainly can't pretend to be an expert after merely watching 2 youtube videos on the topic).

- To my totally uneducated eyes, the only marks that are potentially distinguishing are the smaller diagonally-broken stripes (see last 2 images). Otherwise it seems like a fairly generic design that could come from virtually anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, though, after a couple of hours of googling, I've not found any other textiles that feature this technique.

- There are no tags, labels, or indeed any additional clues whatsoever.

Any ideas?

 

It appears it may be a kilim rug?
This is not my area of expertise; I'm just offering the term to help in your searches. Do wait an see what others say.

 

Thanks a lot for the quick response. Yes, I'm vaguely familiar with kilims (they were big in the '90s), but hadn't seriously looked into that possibility (I started looking at some Turkish designs but nothing stood out as being similar so I soon gave up). What in particular makes you think it's a kilim?

 

Thanks. As of yet I can't see any reason why it couldn't be a kilim. However I can't see any reason why it might not be a lot of other things too.

I've spent the last 20 minutes looking at kilims, and certainly a lot are quite similar (and tbh many are a lot prettier than my item). But so is any other striped handloom textile in wool. And I haven't yet found any examples of kilims with this same distinctive broken line technique – although for all I know this could be unique to the particular weaver rather than a general trait.

I was interested to understand what makes a kilim a kilim (other than the fact it originates from areas that once made up the Persian Empire). Wikipedia doesn't provide much info, but does say that kilims are distinguished by a particular technique that leaves a small gap between each block of color. There's no such gaps on my rug. But then again there's no gap on any of the examples of kilims that come up in google. So either they aren't actually kilims or Wikipedia is offering misleading information (wouldn't be the first time...).

 

Is an occasional bump the done thing here?

 

An occasional bump is fine. I didn't see your question the first time. (Not that it matters - I don't have an answer for you...)

 

You say it is sewn in 3 sections and to me the hand sewing is rather crude and rough looking. I suspect that the sectional stitching was not done by the original weaver. So it may be an alteration of its original shape, but I am not sure on that.

Could it be a horse blanket? Made up from a larger textile? Or maybe it started out as a kind of mattress cover? It has mattress ticking stripes to the design. But wool would be terribly itchy as you say to sleep on!

I have no idea, sorry, where its origin was. I am not seeing a Kilim, and I collect those, but I am no authority on that.

 

Thanks everyone.

@ Mary Jane - I'm not a Facebook user so I hadn't considered that avenue: Will look into it. Thanks

@ Barbara - Good observation. Hadn't occurred to me that its present form might not be one the weaver originally intended. Thanks.

Yes, it would not be a comfortable mattress cover. Very itchy. What are "mattress ticking stripes" though, and where do you see them?

Also, just out of more general curiosity, what about it doesn't say Kilim to you?

 

I was more referring to the pattern, which to me greatly resembles antique ticking stripes. Ticking can be in any variety of colors and patterns, I have seen green, red, yellow and more. Although the blue and white narrow striped is the most traditional. As an example, here are a few antique ticking patterns:

 

Thanks a lot for the examples, I can definitely see the similarity. But what does "ticking" mean in this context?