Antique Rug Repair - Process and Result

There are times when a rug - often an antique rug - is so worn and damaged that a complete restoration that would address all the damaged and compromised areas of the rug would be too cost prohibitive.  In those instances, we recommend clients address the most pressing damaged areas - often at the edges of the rug.  The edges of a rug - both the fringed sides and the selvages - are especially critical for the life of the rug because without sound edges, the entire field of the rug is at risk of unraveling.  For this reason, addressing the damaged edges can often preserve the piece for a few more years if one is not proceeding with an entire restoration.

For this repair, we rebuilt the foundation at the damaged section of the fringe as shown above.  Next, we began to reknot the missing pile as shown below.

After the knotting was completed, we cut down the yarns so as to match the rest of the rug.

Pictured from the reverse side of the rug, below is the repaired area.  With proper care, and if placed in an area where it is not subject to too many stresses (i.e., heavy foot traffic, moving chairs, etc.), this rug has years of enjoyment left to give. --www.traditionalrugrepair.com