FRINGE AND SELVEDGE WEAR
FRINGE AND SELVEDGE WEAR
Wear often begins on the heavily trafficked borders,but the fringes,or ends of the warps which run up and down the length of the carpet,are usually the first part of the fabric to wear out.Edges or selvedges along the sides of the rug frequently weaken and unravel a little later.One should closely inspect these areas from time to time to see if repair or overcasting is required.Overcasting is an inexpensive procedure in which a line of thread is handsewn around areas of the ends and selvedges that are in jeopardy og losing knots.This stitching may be done by us at the cleaning facility when the rug is washed.
Artificial or added fringes sewn onto the ends of the carpet are sometimes a sign of the loss of a few lines of adjacent knots,a fairly serious flaw.They may be the equivalent of a bandaid that covers a more serious wound.The complete repair could be an expensive procedure that involves the extension of the real fringes and rebuilding of the outer guard borders.A “sanjure”,or row of knots sewn onto the end of the rug to prevent further unraveling,may also be needed.In general,attached fringes are an unnecessary and unsightly addition to a carpet because they serve no important purpose and may clash with the rest of the piece.Pile loss on the ends may signify that other areas of the carpet are worn.
The bright,white cotton fringes on new rugs should be left alone and not darkened with tea or other substances.They will darken with time.
New selvedges are not a serious imperfection if they match the color,fineness,and delicacy of the carpet,and no rows of knots have been lost.A fairly serious flaw results if a few lines of knots are missing in a solid color and a major imperfection arises if several rows are absent and designs are lost or incomplete.One should examine the patterns and rows of knots beside the edges of the piece and compare them with the complete ends to determine how much of the sides have been lost and the significance of this defect.
On rare occasions,bad wool from dead sheep is used for the warps of certain rugs.If one gently pulls a thread from the fringe,the wool splits apart because it is inelastic or weak.The carpet should not be purchased because it probably will not last long or survive at cleaning.
SELVEDGES AND CORDS
After the warp threads have been strung on the loom,the first stage in rug making is the weaving of the kilim ends or selvedge. This is achieved by weaving a weft thread in and out of the taut warp threads which, when beaten down with a heavy metal comb to form the kilim ends. Like the fringe, the kilim end acts as a protective barrier and they are truly beauty at most of tribal rugs such as Beluchs and Turkomans.When one of the weft threads in the kilim work begins to work loose, there is cause for alarm. One by one, the weft threads will break away from the rug until the actual knotted pile is reached. This in turn will begin to disappear, knot by knot, row by row, causing serious damage. When there is no kilim end left at all, the weft threads are loose and the knots are already beginning to disappear, the situation is more serious and needs restoration. We carefully remove any knots which are loose until there is an undamaged and complete weft thread passing on top of a row of knots. Remove only the loose knots,preserving as much of the rug as possible. Then we add new warps by needle and add wefts with best matching color and material. Then secure where the last weft line ends. This is reweaving the missing or damaged area and stop the loss.
In most oriental rugs, the side cords are formed by two or more warp threads additionally bound and secured by the weft threads. As the rug is knotted row by row, so the weft thread secures the knots and binds the cords. On most rugs, the side cords have an extra woollen binding besides the weft threads. The side cords have no resilient pile and, acting as the exterior guards to the rug, they receive constant wear and tear; therefore, side cords will often be the first areas requiring attention.
Damaged side cords are also cause for concern needs action taken immediately. If left unrepaired, the cords may break away completely from the rest of the rug and, with the pile unprotected, the knots will then fall away. Side cords should be checked regularly and carefully, for they may often be damaged without appearing so.
There are different materials used for cords like wool, cotton and goat hair. Specially Beluch and Turkoman rugs has goat hair cords so we use exactly the same material for repair.
