Glossary of Rug Terms

from from NatureRugs.com

Abrash
A change in the color of the rug due to a difference in the wool or dye batch.

Antique Wash
A chemical bath that tones down colors to simulate aging.

Aubuson
Fine flat carpets woven in France from the 15th to 19th Centuries. They were derived from Moorish weaving with the assistance of Architects and Artists of the royal court.

Blend
A mixture of two or more fibers or yarns.

Border
The design which forms the outside edge of a rug and surrounds the field.

Burn Test
A small tuft of fibers from a rug may be burned to test for its content. For example cotton has a vegetable smell when burned. Wool smells faintly like hair. Silk smells distinctly like human hair when burned.

Cloth Backed Rug
Refers to Tufted Rugs, that have a cloth backing.

Chrome Dye
Modern synthetic dyes. A quality feature because these synthetic dyes use potassium bichromate to form a permanent bond between the dye and the rug’s fiber.

Carpet Cushion or Rug Pad
A term used to describe any kind of material placed under carpet to provide softness and adequate support when it is walked upon. Carpet cushion provides a softer feel underfoot. It usually provides added acoustical benefits and longer wear life for the carpet. Also referred to as "padding" or "underlay", although "carpet cushion" is the preferred term.

Dhurrie
A flat woven rug, dhurries are usually made of cotton or wool in India.

Field
The part of a rug's design surrounded by the border. The field may be solid or contain medallions, or an overall pattern.

Flat Weave
A Rug that describes any rug without pile.

Foundation
The combination of warps and wefts in the body of a rug.

Fringe
The warp ends, or strings, that extend from the end of the rug.

Hooked Rug
Yarns are pushed through the back of a canvas cloth and pulled back through to form a design.

Kilim
A tapestry like woven rug with flat weave and no pile.

KPSI
Number of knots per square inch.

Padding
See Carpet Cushion

Pile
It consists of wool yarn individually hand tied around the warp string, which forms the face and body of oriental rugs. Most hand woven rugs have a wool pile, however; some rugs have silk pile as well as combinations of wool and silk. Flat weaves do not have a pile.

Resilience
Ability of carpet pile or cushion to recover original thickness after being subjected to compressive forces or crushing under traffic.

Sheen
A carpet having a high luster, usually produced by a special chemical washing.

Tufted Carpet
A mechanically assisted technique for manufacturing rugs in which tufts of wool are punched through base fabric to color in a silk screen design painted on the base. The back of the base is then painted with thick Latex glue and covered with a sacking material.

Vegetable Dyes
Natural dyes produced from berries, roots and bark. They are not as colorfast as chrome dyes.

Warp
String of Yarn that runs entirely from the top of the loom to the bottom to form the foundation of the rugs which appears, when the rug is finished, as the fringe at both ends of the rug.

Weft
Yarns that are woven across the warp of a rug. These threads run the width (side to side) of the rug, between the rows of knots, and help to hold the rug together.

Wilton Loom
Automated looms popular for producing authentic Oriental rug designs.

Wool
Fur of sheep

Worsted
Before wool is spun into yarn, it is combed, then worsted to improve its quality by leaving only the longer pieces of fiber for final spinning. It is used for more intricate patterns.