How Rugs are Made

Rugs probably have more uses in today’s fast-moving world, than they had centuries ago. It is important to know what kind of rugs you are using, so you know HOW to use it, and how to get the most from your rug. Let’s see how rugs are made so you know which types to look for, and what materials will serve your needs best.

How Have Rugs been Made?

Skilled individuals of the Eastern countries are infamous for their workmanship and creativity in the field of hand knotting area rugs. The contemporary styled rugs are worth keeping as a treasure. These well-designed carpets are the worker’s creation providing a glimpse into Eastern traditions and cultures.

The first step to a quality product goes back further than you might think: the sheep. Healthy sheep provide the best quality wool. The quality and the length of sheep’s wool depends on climatic factors and the surrounding vegetation. You get the best quality wool by caring and managing your sheep with the utmost attention and affection. Proper nutrition and even state of mind are all taken into account by the good shephard.

From the wool you get fine fibers, which then need to be teased either using your hands or machines. Machines were obviously used later on for quickly spinning the fibers into exquisite threads. For decades spinning threads was practiced by hand and then it was used for dying purposes. Dying is how we get the various colors to the wool. Dyestuffs and usage of chemical dyes is an art worth noticing. Professional dyers sell their product (wool) to weavers who in turn take the product home or to loom (weaving machine) centers for the knotting process. Like any creative person, rug designers first test their ideas on paper. Then they move to the actual hand-knotting process, where wool rugs, for instance, are meandered onto two different types of looms.

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Rural areas mostly use wooden looms, while modern-styled looms are mainly used in large factories. Weavers need to complete each square foot of the loom (Fruit of the Loom?) and they get paid by completing one.

After the rug is woven together, it goes through a hand washing and stretching process to ensure the removal dirt particles, impurities, which brings out the true colors of the rug. Stretching removes rounds and folds in the rug and allows the rug to stay flat on the ground perfectly hugging the floor.

The almost-finished rug then goes through a stage of shearing, where loose bits of thread are cut off leaving a neat, clean, finished rug. You can use both modern and traditional method for shearing; modern method gives it a uniform shape and the traditional method is by hand.
The finished product can be a work of art, a home design accent, or an overly designed doormat! However you intend to use your rug, be sure to get one that means something to you, something positive, so that your spirits are lifted everytime you see it.