I posted on the interior auction but didn't get any response so here it goes in the main forum: Anybody got any specs on Mexican blankets? I weave a little bit and the OldCarMike interior auction is inspiring me to make my own and maybe a set for a future auction. I need to know typical color combos, materials (wool? acrylic?), and sizes. I have a 45" loom but if I do it right and double thread, I can make up to 90" wide. If just stripes are OK, then I can make the blanket as long as my loom can handle and the stripes will be limited to about 40" with draw in and shrinkage. The more complex patterns I'm not so capable with but the simple tweed and warp faced patterns I can probably swing. There are a couple of my scarves out there in HAMB land so some know what I am (or am not) capable of. It would be a hell of an experience to try and maybe get me motivated enough to make a batch or two.
Try www.elchamaco.com outta Provo that dude has everything including the baja style"thick wool" and sarapes "acrylic' the typical style check it out
I have a few, they measure 6 foot long by 4 foot 5" wide. I took a photo so you can see the patterns of the ones I have Hope this helps Debb
I can't imagine it would be worth your time involved to hand weave them to sell, but if just doing it for fun, have a ball.
not giving a hard time.. just funny because the labor is so cheap in other countries its hard to make it worthwhile. The whole point of mexican blankets is that they are cheap ($5) to cover your seats for the meanwhile until you upholster them. If you came up with and wove your own design into something and the colors matched the car, that could be really cool.
LOL ah so true and yet so sad!!! but hey dan if you need a test seat for your mexican blanket trials..the 62' needs an "Interior" so get weavin' lol
I understand the labor issue but like OLLIN said, I can make my own color pattern. We raise angora goats for their mohair, we have friends with an organic sheep farm and help sheer (this Friday if anyone wants to help) about 60 ewes. We have about 1500 pounds of raw wool in the garage (no room for a car) and we blend it with our mohair to make some good stuff. Check out http:\\spinningmoonfarm.tripod.com to see some of the dye jobs my wife has done. She has about 10 spinning wheels and I've spun up some cool black and teal stuff that is similar to that I've seen in a 56 Chevy once upon a time. I can do the whole 'Mexican' blanket in wolfs tooth plaid or something like the Lord of the Rings cloaks. My wife has miles of yarn and one of the cool things is the fact that she spins 1 ounce samples of any new color blend she makes. In the end, she has about 40 of these that are about 100 yards or more long. They'd make a sweet stripe and it couldn't be duplicated. Thanks for the pictures, Debb, I'll see what it takes for me to set up one for a sample. And on the labor thing, if we all tried to charge the going 'shop rate' for the work we've done to our cars, we'd never sell one! Who could afford it? I wasn't looking to make a bunch of money, I can do that with 24" rugs for $50 each at the crafty shows we do. I was thinking about making one for my car and if it didn't SUCK offer it up as a HAMB auction for the next one.
As far as the sarape goes, those are easy. Just set up the loom with a mile of thin yarn (warp) and run any color you find for a little while then switch to white, then another color. If anyone has one handy, the thing I need to understand is the sett on it, that's the yarns per inch for the fringed end. Where they come out, are they like 4, 6, or 8? Acrylic is dirt cheap and we've got lots of that for practice stuff. Is a 'good' one wool like the baja style El Santo 13 is talking about?
As a current owner of one of Danimals custom scarves, I can tell you that I'd pay much more than the going rate for one of his hand crafted creations. I say bring it own. Doc.
As another recepicant of Danimal's AWESOME hand made scarf I can attest to his weaving skills and already know this would turn out bitchen BUT I can't imagine sitting on that hot scarf in the summer months. I have a large grey and pink "mexican" blanket here at the house that I can show you the next time your here. You can even take it home with you if you want to study it further.
Unbeleivable....another Hot Rod with a mexican blanket. They look very authentic especially in America as you near the Canadian border. Where is the origionality in Hot Rodding? If we have seen one we have seen a million. Lts try a turkish rug. That way the Barrett jackson auctions can push up another $25G's. I cant be the only one who sees this.
Hey Dan I picked some up at the boot shop just west of MIS on US12. I think they were only $6.99 in various colors
Kinda like painting your car flat or China black? Actually, from talking to the old heads, to be even more traditional, a guy should run an old Army blanket on his seat.
Army blankets are awesome. I can swing that in full drab wool. Those would be sweet to do but not much challenge as they are just plain weave 1 up, 1 down. I was thinking the stripes or the tweeds as a variation on the theme. I agree, they can be too trite, that's why I want to make my own. I'm not quite talented enough for a turkish blanket, too many friggin knots to tie but I'm not sayin I wouldn't try! Thanks to Doc. and Denise for their support. Remember, the wool wicks away the sweat when you're driving in the hot weather. A vinyl seat is gonna roast your ass!
Well, your sarcasm would be valid if he weren't MAKING THEM HIMSELF. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Danimal, kudos to you man. You seem to know exactly what you'e doing. I kinda had to chuckle at the garage full of wool comment. Aren't you the one building a wicked '56 Plymouth?
Gotgas gets it. How more hardcore can ya be? I can't even count the number of times I see, "Ya gotta build it yourself," posts on the HAMB. Guys get all emmotional when someone spits out a metal bracket that was made in 30 minutes (rightly so). Danimal is talking about spending a large amount of time to make an item that can be readily bought for a small sum of money (sounds like a hot rodder to me). He ain't trying to corner the market on mexican blankets. He said he wanted to make one, and maybe one for a future auction on the HAMB. He even raises the animals to get the wool. "Hey mister, where'd ya get that bitchin mexican blanket?" Well, I fed me some sheep for about a year. Then I sheared them. Then I dyed the wool, and spun it into yard. Then I wove it on my loom and made me a blanket for my best rod. Like I said, that's hard core. Doc.
Ain't hard core, just cheap and REALLY stressed at work (parts supplier to GM). Not much more relaxing than weaving. Hell, you can still drink beer while you do it if you really want to but be ready to un-weave all you've done if you missed a spot. I went to a Mexican place for dinner tonight. They've got a woven serape style blanket that is linen. Looks like it is somewhere around 24 ends per inch so that is REALLY tight. You've got to wind on about 10 yards of each strand or 'end' onto the loom. I can do about 30 at a time, so that's about 1 1/4". I've got to repeat that about 30-35 times then thread every one threw an eye on the harness then tie it onto the front beam and crank it tight. Then the weaving begins. 24 per inch times 54 inches is a shitload (I'm not up for multiplication right now). I think I'll look for the more woolen types to do first like 6 or 8 epi (that's about what Doc. and Denise's scarves were). When I wind it on, I'll plan to do 4 or 5 so it makes it worth the time. As far as raising them myself, we've got a baby monitor in the house and the barn right now. It is kidding time and we've got 3 in the barn that are due in the next 3 days and about 10 more after that. Shearing is in April for the mohair if anyone wants in. Sheep are tomorrow, 60 plus starting at 7 am. Come on down! I wish I was building a bitchin 56 Plymouth. I'm working with my son's on a 54 Chevy more door, a 54 Chevy 3100, and some day a 48 Sedan Delivery and THEN a 52 Ford Crestless Crestline.
I live on the the Mexican border - I see Mexican blankets used for seat covers several times a day. But I gotta say DAMN Loco - that is creative. Very well done. Oh yeah - Mexican blankets really aren't all that bad in high heat/humidity
Now, in the Movie Dark Passage with Bogie and Bacall. A guy picks up Bogie in a '30's jalopy and at first it looks like a Mexican blanket. But, some where in the film thay say it's from a Circus Tent.. I am MexiCan and my Grandfather gave me His blankets a million years ago and it is awesome. It's not fuzzy like the new ones.No neon or bright colors, with patterns in the bands. I wish I could show a picture. There is even a painting of a Pin-up with the same blanket. I think I'll try and post it. http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c59/GUSANO22/espanaChicaPrideArte.jpg
actually they done have "flat black" in china only "black flat" and it's still shiny, from actual expirience.
"No neon or bright colors, with patterns in the bands. I wish I could show a picture. There is even a painting of a Pin-up with the same blanket." That is really cool. Is it thin like linen? The actual yarn is really thin like what denim jeans are made from not like yarn as thick as a pencil, right? Nice colors. That's what I'm talking about. I can make it bright like Loco Louie's or mild like yours, just depends on the colors I use. I'd like to make something to match my car rather than get something 'close enough.' Mine's a 54 Chevy and it has that cool 'blanket' rope on the back seat. My dad tells me his mom had a 53 and they used to use that rope to hang a blanket on and it also held up a snack tray or two. They'd play games on the snack try while driving to Grandma and Grandpa Tesch's house on Sundays. If it was cold, they'd cover up with the blanket.
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