WHAT IS A HAND LOOMED RUG?

Hand loomed rug is traditionally handwoven on a vertical loom with a mounted wrap. They often have no fringes or proper secured ends or sides. The making of them is by pressing strands of fiber together by using thin threading.

The thickness of the rod determines the depth of the pile height. The weaving technique is as such that the designs are limited to certain restrictions. However, they can have a beautiful loop pile, cut pile or a mix of both in them.

Later after the weaving, the rug goes through the process of applying synthetic latex and a cloth sheet to the carpets back to join them together. The latex provides strength to the handloom rug, which saves it from disentangling.

Different Types Of Hand Loomed Rugs

Of all other hand woven rugs from India, handloom rugs are the most affordable rugs.

They can be made as pile rugs and flatweave rugs as well.

Loomed rugs are handwoven in three different styles –

  1. Loom-knotted back
  2. Double back
  3. Single back.

Loomed rugs usually have a loose back the same as the hand-tufted rugs back has in its initial stage. They can fold easily from all four corners, that loose.

Then came the “double back hand-loom rug” technique where they have a tight back like the hand-knotted rugs.

Among all other handmade carpet types handloom carpets are one of them.

They are woven on a vertical loom with the support of a mounted wrap. Commonly, cotton yarn is used for the wrap, but as per the requirement silk is also taken in use for it occasionally.

Mill spun yarn woven is known as hand loom fabric, and on the other hand, fabrics woven out of handspun yarn on a hand-loom is known is “khaddi”.

Fibers And Making Of Hand-loom Rugs

Cotton is vastly the standard fiber used in the wrap. It is cost-effective and accessible in plenty easily. Silk also wraps equally well. For outdoor handloom rugs, polyester fiber wrapping helps the carpet endure the outdoor exposure.

The technique of weaving is a reverse of knots and wefts. Here the knots are wrapped around the wraps. The weaving operation continues in the horizontal lines.

 A hand loomed rug comes to existence when weaving fabrics are skilfully handspun/hand-knotted on a specially designed loom. Rug manufacturers in India use a variety of materials in making handloom rugs.

While a hand loomed wool rug is great for interior home decor, polyester is best for outdoors. Some of the popular fibers used in handloom carpets are as:

  • Wool
  • Viscose
  • Synthetic materials (Polyester, Linen, Nylon)
  • Bamboo silk handloom carpet
  • Cotton hand knotted handloom carpets

Handloom Rug Design Patterns

They only carry designs in boxes, stripes and other regular geometrical designs. They are mostly made in the plain with embossments.

The technique of making hand-loom carpet is as such that their pattern gets confined to some extent. This very limitation leads to the main and the only disadvantage of handloom carpets. In other words, a hand loomed rug, in general, follows only a few simple geometrical patterns. They are either plain or have designs containing stripes or boxes.

Unlike hand-tufted, flatweave, or hooked rugs, they cannot bear intricate floral designs in them.

Durability & Affordability

The production of hand loom carpet is the fastest with much exceptional quality. Hence, they are the most inexpensive rugs in the rug market.

As mentioned earlier, hand loomed rugs come with a double backing and a single backing. Dual support back that has a latex canvas behind is often less durable. Rugs without latex last longer besides the rug quality and rug material.

Usage

Handloom carpets and rugs usually are used the same as hand-tufted or any other carpet. They don’t weigh as light as flatweave rugs but handloom yoga mats worth carrying every morning alongside. Indian handloom rugs have gained popularity worldwide. Interior designers prefer these inexpensive rugs over hand-tufted for traditional and modern decor styling.

Size

Although they mostly follow solid or plain design, yet there are different pattern shifts in this category.

However, their width size can be up to 4 meters(12ft.), whereas their length size can go up to 25 meters(80ft.)

Wash

Like every rug, handloom floor coverings also need to be vacuumed at least once every 3-5 weeks. You can remove stains easily at home using OxiClean or shampoo. You can wash small size single backing handloom pieces in a washing machine.

Benefits Of Handloom Carpets and Rugs

Handloom carpets are very comfortable to produce with the development of technology. The demand for it is increasing tremendously all over the world.

Recycled rugs and jacquard weave rugs in thick silk and cotton fabrics are in very high demand nowadays.

  • They Are Inexpensive. One of the main reasons that make these rugs affordable is the less time it takes in its production.
  • Handloom takes the shortest time of production. The production of this kind of rug is much faster than hand-tufted rugs.
  • Quick production leads to lower production costs. It is for this very reason why these area rugs are the most inexpensive rug types. However, woolen fiber rugs are expensive compared to other materials. 
  • Knotted loomed rugs can give a look and feel of the costly hand-knotted rugs but at a very affordable price.
  • Flatweave handloom rugs are reversible. You can use both sides of the area rug. So when one side gets old or overstained then reverse the carpet and get a fresh carpet look again. Both sides are equally of high quality, color, texture, and look.
  • They are lovely on the floor and are soft and comfortable on the feet. No two handloom rug pieces are identical; this is a sign of a beautiful and valuable handcraft job worth paying.

Cons Of Rugs Loomed By Hand

  • Not suitable for high traffic areas.
  • No natural fringes – Generally loomed rugs do not have natural frills. They may have a separately added fringes as desired. They effortlessly replicate the real hand-knotted rugs. Sometimes the sides are glued to keep the fibers together.
  • Stretchable – Ideally handwoven rugs do not and should not stretch. You can notice the inner fiber if you turn and view the back of the area rug. This drawback can lead the woven fibers to shift about overtime and wear out sooner. It makes the rug cleaning challenging as the fiber may tend to peel out.

How To Identify A Rug Is Handloom Or Hand-tufted?

The foundation of the rug is woven cloth. The production of them is by using two collections of conjoining threads. Here the wrap is kept tightly stretched on the loom while the weft is thrown through the warp threads, generally with a shuttle.

 

On the other hand, tufted rugs are a bit costly. The making of tufted carpets is using a semimatic tool that shoots strands of wool into a canvas.