Blog > Area Rug Terminology

Monday, July 29, 2024

Area Rug Terminology

Flat Weave

The fabric itself is braided or woven onto a loom to create the structure of the rug. No base material or backing is used. The weft strands are simply passed through the warp strands.

Hand Knotted

A weaver sits behind a loom and hand ties individual knots onto the vertical strings seen on the backside of a rug.

Hand Tufted

Rugs made using a hand-operated tool that tufts strands of fiber through a canvas that is stretched over a frame. When the design is complete, the canvas is removed from the frame and glued to a fabric for the rug backing.

Hand-woven

Rugs woven either on the hand, or hand and foot power-loom. To determine if the rug is hand-woven, look at the back of the rug near the fringe; if the ridges run parallel, the rug is hand-woven.

Jute

You are probably familiar with the brown, woven cloth used for burlap sacks. Burlap is woven jute cloth. Most jute is grown and harvested in the moist heat of Bangladesh, India, and China.

Knot

In the basic structural unit of a knotted rug, the knots vary according to local and tribal weaving traditions, with the two main types being symmetrical (Turkish) and asymmetrical (Persian) varieties.

Knot Count

The number of knots in a square inch of a rug

Needlepoint

A rug-making technique made with wool yarns worked on canvas using the same method as that used in making a needlepoint pillow

Power loom

A loom operated by mechanical or electronic power

Shading

A change in the appearance of an area rug due to localized distortions of the fibers, tufts, or loops. Shading is not a change in color or hue, but a different reflection.