Your 6-Step Guide to Recognizing High-Quality Handmade Rugs

What makes a rug a high-quality rug? While handmade rugs today are more than just floor coverings, their significant role in history has moved between functional and aesthetic needs. By exploring factors like craftsmanship, color, fabric, design complexity, and materials, you can differentiate and define the excellence of each rug. What matters for each rug is distinguishing true quality from mere visual allure.

In this blog, we discuss a six-step verification method to identify if your choice of a rug is high-quality.

6 Ways to Know that it is a High-Quality Handmade Rug

01. Making the Lineage Count

The craftsmanship of a handmade rug lies in the craftsman’s method, artistry, and skill. Using traditional methods passed down to generations, the labor-intensive method of handmade rugs takes a few months to a few years to weave unique rugs with distinct designs.?

Handmade rugs are also known for their superior material, durability, sustainability, and excellent construction.

On the other hand, machine-made rugs are made using automated looms and replicate patterns with high speed to create uniform rug designs. These rugs are readily available, energy-intensive, and less sustainable than handmade rugs because of the use of synthetic materials for production.

02. The Knot Matters

Knot density, measured as KPSI (Knot Per Square Inch),? is crucial in determining a handmade rug’s design, durability, and quality. Higher knot counts often indicate intricate designs and more labor-intensive production. The higher the KPSI, the finer the quality of the rug.?

While an average hand-woven rug’s KPSI ranges from 100 to 150, high-quality rugs range above 300 to 1000 KPSI. These higher counts are essential for detailed patterns to create a finer weave with enhanced resistance to wear and tear. While knots alone cannot define the quality, it is crucial to consider the rug material, design clarity, and the type of patterns weaved on the rug. For instance, geometric designs have low KPSI but are still considered high-quality.

Pro-tip: To calculate KPSI, multiply the number of knots vertically and horizontally in an inch of a rug.

03. Backing and Rug Foundation

The thickness of a rug’s pile is a critical factor in its lifespan. High piles provide more material to wear through, whereas low pile rugs maintain the softness without compromising the rug's strength. Low-pile rugs generally outlast high-pile rugs due to their reduced likelihood of snagging, dirt accumulation, and stain absorption.

The aesthetic appeal of tightly woven low-pile rugs reflects the craftsmanship invested in their creation and differs from high-pile rugs.

04. Quality of Dye and Color Retention

When checking the rug quality, checking for color fastness and clarity of design ensures a lasting visual appeal for your space. Earlier, natural materials like fruits and vegetables served as bases to create a wide range for the rug dyeing processes. These materials give a lustrous look that lasts generations, like the Persian and Oriental rugs that shine today after a thorough cleaning.

Traditional vegetable dyes are alternatively used with high-quality pigments in modern rug dyeing processes. Natural dyes inherently do not fade in sunlight, even for extended periods, compared to synthetic dyes. An easy method to identify the dyeing method is to check the roots, i.e., the rug's foundation. A naturally dyed rug’s roots will be consistently the same color throughout the pile height.

05. What Does the Fabric Say?

The material used for the weaving of a rug plays a vital role in determining its quality. Silk and wool are the most used materials for rug-making. While pure silk rugs are considered the finest and softest, wool is known for its vibrancy and resilience. Wool rugs are stain-resistant and durable; silk rugs are stretchable and lightweight.

Understanding the quality of wool is crucial. High-quality wool with abundant lanolin, the wool grease secreted by the sheep’s sebaceous glands, feels soft to the touch, while low-quality wool feels dry, lacks the sheen, and has a dull appearance. A blend of wool and silk surpasses synthetic materials in longevity and is also an optimum option for an environmentally conscious choice.

06. Why Does the Rug Fringe Differ?

For high-quality handmade rugs, the fringe, i.e., the ornamental border with straight or twisted threads hanging from a band, seamlessly integrates with the rug's body. These fringes form an extension during the weaving process and are a part of the process of handmade rug-making. In contrast, machine-made rugs have their fringes stitched onto the completed rug to create a whole look.?

Pro tip: Inspect the area where the fringe connects to the rug’s body to? determine the authenticity and quality of the rug in question.

Choosing the Best Rug

The quality of a handmade rug is intricately woven into its craftsmanship, origin, knot density, and other factors. The lineage of traditional craftsmanship distinguishes it from machine-made counterparts. At Yarns of the East, we uphold these age-old skills of artisans and weavers to create the most enduring, durable, and exquisite handmade rugs for modern use.

Whatever your choice of a rug, it can be made on order as desired. By choosing #RugsThatRepresent communities and elevating their socioeconomic well-being, you also choose a rug that delivers on the promise of being sustainable.

Visit Yarns of the East to learn more about how Yote delivers its promises.?

Or drop a message at [email protected] or contact us at +971 5822 56879.