Acadian Louisiana brown cotton homespun blanket

Blankets typically comprised of two-panels sewn together.

Louisiana brown cotton homespun, woven in lengths which are cut and sewn together to make blankets and floor coverings. The Acadian presence in Louisiana dates to around 1764. Known as Cajuns in southwest Louisiana, they are descendants of the French colonizers who settled an area of far northeastern North America—Quebec, Nova Scotia, and parts of present-day Maine. Like all rural folk of the pre-industrialized world, they practiced crafts and arts that sustained daily life, and in some instances, have become important reflections of a period of history, valued by those who document material culture and those who collect. The textiles produced by Louisiana Acadians, generally termed Louisiana homespun, are mostly woven from a brown cotton that was very popular because it already had a natural color and didn’t require dyeing. This “coton jaune” probably originated in Mexico, and in south Louisiana the seed was handed down from one generation to another for planting each year. Today, very little brown cotton is grown, although it is experiencing a resurgence.