Designing

Previous Section | Next Section

“When I plan my rugs, I draw my patterns out for the big projects, because I work in sections. We learned our lesson from the first one my sister and I did together. We didn’t have anything on paper and kept missing things, so we’d have to go back and redo everything. So, it became easier for me to put in on paper.

“On small ones, it’s real easy, a piece of cake. When creating a pattern I don’t think of the whole thing. I only need one-fourth of the pattern to 'get' the rug. When I’m thinking of the pattern, I’m really thinking of one quarter of the whole. Once I get to the middle, then it’s a repeat in reverse.” —Barbara Ornelas

Explore symmetry in Navajo weaving in the online activity: Designing Navajo Rugs