Have a Large Rug You Want to Use but Cannot?

Are you now in possession of an area rug that is too big for you to use?

If you ever find yourself inheriting an area rug from a family member that you like but cannot use due to the size there is help.

At first glance of this Persian area rug you wouldn't know that it has been shortened. Yes this rug as cut then seamed together.

It was done in the middle even though looking at the far end it looks like the diamond was cut in half. That is where they stopped the pattern for some reason. I don't know why they didn't finish the last diamond, but it adds character to the hand knotted rug.

Here is what the rug looks like on the back where it was sewn together.

You can clearly see the difference in the small diamond design.

This rug was shortened by a professional area rug repairer. The rug is rewoven to make it whole and then stitched to keep everything together.

This as what caught my eye when I was doing my visual inspection of this Persian rug. Normally when you see two different colours in a hand knotted rug it is abrash, when wool that was dyed at different times is used.

It was the line in the rug that made me look closer. This is why a thorough pre-inspection of rugs is necessary.

If I didn't point this out to the client and they didn't know about it before hand, they would have been surprised to see it after cleaning.

They may think that our cleaning process lightened areas of their rug, until we showed them the seam in the back.

You may be thinking how would someone not notice that the rug was altered when they got the rug? Easy, the client could have gotten this rug second hand and plus, when we go shopping for an area rug we are thinking about:

• Size
• Colours/design
• Price

I point out things to clients all the time that they have never noticed about their rugs. People only really look at their rugs after they have been cleaned or when they were in someone else possession.
After reading this go take a good look at your rugs front and back, if possible. What do you see?

• Does the colour change through the pattern
• Is the rug straight on all sides
• Is the border exactly the same on both sides
• Is the colour darker or lighter on the back
• Are the fringes the same on both ends

You maybe surprised at what you find.

Here at Luv-A-Rug, in Victoria BC we can alter the size of most area rugs, depending whether they are machine made or hand knotted or tufted. Why should you have an area rug that you cannot use?

Thanks for reading, RugloverMary, Your Victoria BC rug cleaning and rug repair expert!