The Rug Library

Shearing levels a carpet's pile to a uniform height after weaving, evening out the small differences left when each knot is cut by hand.

Clipping, as described by India's Carpet Export Promotion Council, trims the pile around a motif's border so the motif appears to stand out from the background.

With longer piles, neighbouring yarns can blur a design, so finishers work line by line with a pointed tool to separate yarns and sharpen the pattern's edges.

Many weavers trim the pile with shears as knotting progresses, and shears are regarded as one of the core tools for bringing the pile to an even level.

Some Indian workshops use a shearing machine for the first levelling pass, then finish the pile by hand to refine details.

A final hand-shearing to even the pile is often among the last steps after a rug has been washed, bound and stretched.

Clipping sharpens a design by lowering the surrounding pile slightly, so it sits between simple shearing and full sculptural carving in the finishing sequence.