Is That A Machine-Made or Hand-Made Oriental Rug?

One of the most frequent questions we ask clients who rely on Oriental Rug Salon for their area rug cleaning or repair needs is “Can you tell me if this rug is handmade or machine made?” We ask this question so that we can help educate our clients to identify the differences and to help educate them on their particular rug.

In almost every instance the client believes their rug is “handmade” when in truth only 50% of the time does the client own a genuine, handmade and knotted wool rug. Some clients purchased their rug from an unscrupulous rug dealer and were led to believe the rug was something it is not. Others inherited their beautiful rug and still, others purchased their rug from an ad they found online or from a rug dealer on the side of the road.

This article is intended to help you tell the difference between a handmade (or hand knotted) rug and a machine made rug. This will help you when you are in the market to purchase a rug. The more you know about rugs before purchasing one, then the less chance you have of getting ripped off during the process.

This discussion concerns only rugs made with 100% wool as the pile material:

  1. If a rug has a nap of polypropylene, polyolefin, or a nap made of a blend of synthetic polymers and wool, it is all but certainly a machine-made rug.
  2. If a rug is identified as “a Belgium Oriental,” or as having been made in Belgium, Italy, or elsewhere in Western Europe, it is all but certainly a machine-made rug.
  3. Is the fringe sewn over the rug or was added to the rug as a finishing touch or is it an extension of the rug? If it is sewn over, it is a machine-made. If it is an extension of the rug, is handmade.Compare the front of the rug to the back. In the picture below note the strong visual differences between the machine-made and handmade rugs.

    In particular, the back of the machine-made rug is very different in appearance from the back of the handmade rug. The design is not nearly as colorful on the back of the machine-made rug as it is on the face. Closer examination of the machine-made rug shows why this is so:

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  4. The construction of the machine-made rug is very different from the handmade Oriental. There is an overstitch pattern across the whole back of the machine-made rug. You cannot easily distinguish individual knots on the back of the machine-made rug because there aren’t any–the overstitch construction is what holds the pile material in place.The fringe is clearly applied to the end of the machine-made rug after it’s complete, whereas the fringe of the handmade rug is actually made up of the warp strings that come out of the end of the handmade rug.

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We hope this information helps you distinguish a handmade knotted rug from a machine made. Regardless of how your area rug was made, Oriental rugs are beautiful and with proper care will last for many generations.

Oriental Rug Salon invites you to visit us online at www.OrientalRugSalon.com for more information on our Oriental, wool and silk area rug cleaning and repair services or give us a call anytime at 239-424-8171.

We offer Oriental, wool and silk rug cleaning and repair in the following cities and pick-up and delivery are always FREE.

Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres, Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, Fort Myers Beach, North Fort Myers, Estero, Sanibel, Bonita Springs, March Island, Naples, Pine Island, Matlacha, St. James City and Bokeelia FL.