Guide · For the trade
Hand loomed rugs: what the construction is and where it beats hand-knotted and hand-tufted
Hand loomed rugs are woven on a hand-operated loom, with the pile yarn passed over a rod and cut or left in loops as the weaver works across the width, so a 9x12 takes days rather than the months a hand-knotted rug takes. The result is a dense, even, mostly solid or tonal pile, in wool, wool blends, viscose or nylon, at a price between machine-woven and hand-tufted and well below hand-knotted. It is the construction for a textured solid, a stripe or a cut-and-loop and the one we quote most for bedrooms, living rooms and custom sizes.
This guide is for the designer choosing between hand loomed, hand tufted and hand knotted on a line sheet and for the junior who needs to explain the difference to a client. It covers how a hand loomed rug is made, hand woven vs hand loomed, the numbers against the other hand constructions, backings and shedding and sizes and lead times. The hand-knotted rugs guide and the hand tufted vs hand knotted guide cover the neighbors.
How a hand loomed rug is made
The loom is a frame with cotton warp threads, worked by one or two weavers by hand and foot. For a cut pile, the weaver lays the pile yarn across the full width over a metal rod, beats a weft down to lock it and draws the rod out along a blade so the loop opens into a cut tuft; for a loop pile, the rod comes out without the blade. Because the pile is held by the weft rather than tied to the warp, most hand loomed rugs get a thin latex coat and a cotton or canvas backing after weaving to lock the tufts. A few loop constructions are stable without it and show the weave on the back.
Hand woven vs hand loomed and the other words on the sheet
Hand woven is the umbrella: anything woven by hand, which includes flatweaves such as kilims and dhurries with no pile at all and hand loomed pile rugs. Hand loomed means a pile rug made as above. Hand knotted means each tuft tied to the warp, visible as a knot on the back; hand tufted means yarn punched through a cloth with a gun, then glued and backed. Loom knotted is a mill term for a hand loomed rug with some knotting for pattern; treat it as hand loomed for wear. Our hand-loomed and hand-woven filter holds 1,365 styles across rugs and broadloom, 639 of them in wool and 355 in wool blends, with the largest groups from Harcourt, Cella Carpet, Couristan, Antrim, Prestige Mills and Stanton Rug Co.
The three hand constructions, in numbers
| Construction | How the pile is held | Time for a 9x12 | Pattern capability | Pile height | Wear | Back of the rug |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hand knotted | Each tuft tied to the warp | Months | Any design, any detail | 1/4 to 1/2 in | Decades | Design visible in knots, no backing |
| Hand loomed | Weft locks a continuous pile yarn; usually latex and cloth backing | Days | Solids, stripes, tonal, cut-and-loop texture, simple geometrics by yarn change | 1/4 to 3/4 in; some shags to 1 in | 10 to 15 years in a bedroom or living room | Cotton or canvas backing, or the weave on unbacked loops |
| Hand tufted | Yarn punched through cloth, glued, backed | Days | Any design, including curves and lettering | 3/8 to 3/4 in | 7 to 12 years | Cloth backing over latex |
Hand loomed and hand tufted sit at a similar price and the choice between them is pattern. If the design is a solid, a stripe, a two-tone texture or a tonal abstract made by changing yarns, hand loomed gives a denser, more even pile with less shedding and a firmer edge. If the design has curves, a medallion or lettering, it has to be tufted or knotted.
What hand loomed does well: texture, solids and wide widths
The loom's strength is yarn. Because the pile is a continuous strand across the width, the weaver can mix a thick wool with a fine viscose or a loop row with a cut row and the rug carries texture without a pattern. Hand loomed wool rugs in oatmeal, grey, charcoal and ivory are the backbone of the solid filter and the texture filter. The same looms, set wider, produce hand loomed wool broadloom: 437 of our wool carpet styles are hand loomed or hand woven, from Cella, Antrim, Bellbridge and Prestige Mills, in widths that let a 12x18 be cut and bound with one seam or none. Hand loomed broadloom cut and bound in 3 to 5 weeks is the fastest route to a large handmade-looking rug.
Backings, shedding and what to tell the client
Most hand loomed rugs are backed and the backing is the part the client never sees and the designer should check. A good one is a cotton canvas over a thin, flexible latex that does not crack or powder; ask the mill whether it is low-odor. Unbacked loops can snag; keep them away from pets' claws. Shedding is lower than hand tufted because the yarn is continuous and a wool hand loomed rug settles within two to three months of suction-only vacuuming. Specify a 1/4 inch felt pad on a hard floor, a thin rubber pad over carpet and rotation twice a year. A viscose hand loomed rug follows the rules in the viscose rugs guide.
Sizes, custom sizes and lead times
Line hand loomed rugs run 5x8, 6x9, 8x10, 9x12 and 10x14, with 12x15 in many programs and runners at 2 ft 6 in and 3 ft wide. Because the loom is wide and the construction is fast, custom sizes are easy: most of our hand loomed lines will weave any size up to about 15 or 16 feet in one direction, typically in 8 to 14 weeks and the hand loomed broadloom can be cut and bound in 3 to 5 weeks. A full custom hand loomed design through the Design Studio is rendered, sampled with a strike-off in 4 to 6 weeks and produced in 18 to 20 weeks.
Questions designers ask
What is a hand loomed rug?
A pile rug woven on a hand-operated loom, with the pile yarn laid across the width over a rod and cut or looped row by row, then usually backed with latex and cloth. It is faster than hand-knotting and denser and lower-shedding than hand-tufting and it suits solids, stripes and textures.
Hand woven vs hand loomed: is there a difference?
Hand woven is the broad term and includes flatweaves with no pile; hand loomed is a hand woven rug with a pile made on a loom. On a line sheet the two are often used for the same rug. Hand knotted is different from both and is identifiable by the knots on the back.
Are hand loomed wool rugs durable?
Yes, for residential rooms. A dense hand loomed wool rug wears for 10 to 15 years in a living room or bedroom and shows its age mainly as crushing in a traffic lane. For a stair, a hall or a commercial floor specify a woven or hand-knotted construction instead.
Which is better, hand loomed or hand tufted?
For a solid, a stripe or a texture, hand loomed: denser pile, less shedding, a cleaner edge. For a design with curves, a medallion or lettering, hand tufted, because the loom cannot draw them. At the same price the hand loomed rug is usually the better-made one.
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