Student Stevens' Design for Pendleton Benefits Fund

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 9/8/2008 12:00:00 AM

New York —

The color photo of a student-designed "Painted Pony" blanket woven by Portland, Ore.-based Pendleton Woolen Mills gleamed from a Times Square billboard here in August.

The promotion was part of a longstanding relationship between Pendleton and the American Indian College Fund to raise scholarship dollars for Native American students.

Thomasina Stevens won first place in the Pendleton competition with her interpretation of the horse culture of the Plains nations; her blanket will be made and sold worldwide to benefit the fund, the company said.

The Painted Pony blanket is available on the American Indian College Fund website (www.collegefund.org) for $185, on the Pendleton site, and at select retailers. Part of a limited edition series, it will be retired upon the selection of a 2009 student blanket design contest winner.