The pieces on display at the Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum feature rich, intense colors.

The patterns range from bold, straight lines to complex geometric shapes.

They were made for mostly practical reasons.

And the names of the women who made them are lost to history.

But no, they are not quilts.

"Rainbow Yarn: Navajo Weavings, Germantown Yarns and the Pennsylvania Connection" features 35 pieces — rugs, blankets, clothing —made between the 1880s and the 1920s.

     VIDEO: 'Rainbow Yarn' exhibit

"This is a different kind of exhibit for us," says Peter Seibert, the president of the Heritage Center of Lancaster County, which operates the museum. "I didn't want people to think we're only about Amish quilts. There really is a breadth of things that we can exhibit. I think this exhibit will really engage people."

Indeed, the exhibit features stunning examples of Navajo weaving both simple and complex.

The Pennsylvania connection is, Seibert concedes, a bit of a stretch, but it's a wonderful excuse to present the exhibit.

Weavers used natural dyes up until the mid-19th century, but the dyes faded and did not create uniform colors.

In the mid-19th century, a new kind of synthetic dye was introduced and produced in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Aniline is a coal-tar derivative which, when turned into a dye, creates rich, deep and more dependable colors.

Because the Navajo weavings were so popular commercially, traders eagerly introduced the aniline yarn and Navajo weavers began using it.

The colors jump out of the pieces on display, which range from small decorative wall hangings to large, elaborate blankets or rugs that featured geometric shapes, trains, people and horses. One piece is inspired by a McGuffey Reader, another by an Oriental rug pattern.

The Navajo in Arizona learned to weave from the Pueblo in the 1680s.

Men would raise the sheep and women would dye the wool using natural materials and create the weavings. (Here in Pennsylvania, men were the weavers.)

Their weavings were mostly bold, horizontal lines of color.

In 1862, the United States Army, under President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act, forced the Navajo off of their land.

"Their sheep were killed, the villages were burned and they forced them to Bosque Redondo in New Mexico," Seibert explains. "They tried to make them into farmers."

It was a dismal failure and six years later, they were released from their imprisonment.

But in that period, Navajo were introduced to Latino culture in New Mexico, and their weaving began to dramatically change.

"They had been doing horizontal stripes, but now they began incorporating geometric shapes into their design," Seibert says.

The intricate designs that seem so traditional to us now, were evolving throughout the 19th century.

There are examples of the evolution in the exhibit, with first phase (1800-1850), second phase (1850-1870) and third phase (1865-1875) blankets, where geometric shapes took over from the lines.

The weavings were always popular and sold well.

"People back east loved them," Seibert says. "Major department stores like Macy's would carry them."

One striking aspect of the exhibit is how modern and timeless so many of the pieces look.

"You've got all kinds of influences, from Anglo to Latino, the market to tradition — it all comes together here," Seibert says.

THAT'S THE TICKET

"Rainbow Yarn: Navajo Rugs, Germantown Yarns and the Pennsylvania Connection"

Opens Fri. Cont. through Dec. 31

Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-6 p.m.

Sun. noon-3 p.m.

$6 adults, free for 17 and under

Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum

37 N. Market St., 299-6440
www.lancasterheritage.com