Hudson's Bay Point Blankets
I have been on the lookout for the perfect Hudson’s Bay Point blanket for some time now. I first saw one in an amazingly unique furniture and art boutique. It was nestled around a perfectly rustic, distressed leather chair next to an ashtray fashioned out of a real deer’s hoof and a framed artistic display of peacock feathers. I loved everything in that store, but especially that vintage wool blanket.
A Hudson's Bay point blanket, AKA Hudson Bay blanket, is an old-school style wool blanket made by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in Canada since the 1800’s. Fur trappers brought these as one of the most coveted items to trade with the Native tribes in exchange for furs (yes, just like you saw in The Revenant). Somehow, they company and style of blankets are still around and going strong. They are sold daily on their website, although they are most definitely now a luxury item, as they sell new for about $350 or more. Vintage blankets can be found everywhere from flea markets and Etsy sellers to fancy vintage boutiques across the web from about $75 - $400, depending.
They are called point blankets because of little black lines sewn into the wool that indicate the finished overall size of a blanket and allow a blanket's size to be easily determined while remaining folded.
The traditional blanket was striped with green red yellow and black, since those dyes were easy to obtain at the time. This four-color version is still awesome today, and styled perfectly with this boho-rustic decor as seen on www.honestlywtf.com.
For my own home, I prefer slighted more muted colors. I would probably end up getting the grey version you see below, which has been added to the repertoire since those first fur-trapping days.
Photo as seen on Desiretodecorate.com
If neither of those tickle your fancy, there's plenty more colors and styles to choose from
For my ultra industrial/rustic roots - I'm into this block table. Just reclaimed 2x4's strapped in with some aged steel. HOWEVER.. I am NOT so stoked on the price. An Etsy seller (while I do believe in getting paid for your time and workmanship) called JRealFurniture is selling this peice for over $1200.. :( But, I will add this here to inspire us.
OH! Annnnnnnd you can even find coats with the same fabric and patterns. In the 1800's they were hand-made from blankets into large coats and are still being made into all kinds of amazing outerwear. You can find vintage coats for men and women with the classic four color stripe at basically all of your favorite online vintage retailers, like this 1960's beauty seen on Etsy.
