Rug Fringe Repair
Rug Fringe Repair
Rug fringe repair could more accurately be called rug end repair. The fringes on a handmade rug are the ends of the warps, the structural yarns that run the length of the rug. On a hand knotted rug, the pile yarns are tied around the warps. Wefts, the structural members that run from side to side, hold the warps and pile yarns in place.
How rugs are made
The photo on the right shows the back of the end of a rug. Each red node is one half of a pile knot. The heavy white cotton yarns are the warps. The heavy, horizontal, blue cotton yarn is the cable weft. It separates the two layers of warps. The light blue cotton yarn seen between the rows of red yarn is the sinuous weft. It wraps around the warps and acts to hold the pile, warps, and cable weft in place.
Rug ends
This rug structure has to be resolved at the end of the rug. Often, the warps and wefts are woven into a flat weave known as a kilim. The warps may then extend beyond the kilim to form a fringe. The 
weaver may build in a decorative chain stitch or twining. Or he may opt for simplicity and tie off the warps with a simple clove hitch.
The ends and side of most handmade rugs are the first parts of the rug to wear out. When the end is compromised, the pile falls out the end of the rug. The photo on the right shows the torn kilim and fringe and the resulting pile loss.
Rug Fringe Repair
Permanent rug fringe repair or end repair requires an internal stitch that secures the end weft or decorative finish into the body of the rug. Below are two approaches to rug fringe repair.
The previous end repair on this rug didn’t work.
We cleaned up the end, preserving all the original material, and then secured the end weft into the foundation of the rug to effect a permanent repair.
The owner of this rug took preemptive action and had us secure the end of the rug before the body of the rug was compromised.
The overcast stitch, an earlier attempt to secure the end of the rug, didn’t hold up.
We removed the broken wefts in the kilim, installed a new decorative twining that mimics the original and secured the twining into the foundation of the rug with an internal stitch.
Because the internal stitch is inside the foundation of the rug and not exposed to wear, the repair is permanent one.
If you need rug fringe repair or fringe replacement call us at 603-678-8142 or 802-651-7000.
