There were two types of classic 19th century Navajo blankets, serapes & chief blankets. Serapes were woven vertically, chief blankets horizontally. Both styles were worn wrapped around the body, and the finest and most beautiful blankets were objects of great value then, as they are now.

A variation on the poncho, the poncho serape is the rarest of all Navajo blankets. Woven with a central slit opening for the head, poncho serapes were worn draped front and back.

Chief blanket design developed over the years in three basic stages:

First Phase chief blankets are striped, with no other decorative touches.

In Second Phase blankets, designs start to appear within the stripes.

Design elements of Third Phase blankets such as diamonds and crosses come to dominate the striped motif.

Although the designs developed consecutively, they were also made concurrently; in other words, First and Second Phase blankets continued to be woven after the Third Phase blankets were introduced.

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