The Rug Library

The Institute of Conservation advises owners not to use adhesives or adhesive tape on rugs, even as a temporary repair.

The self-couching stitch, the most frequently used stitch in textile conservation, secures torn, frayed or weak areas to a new support fabric to make them less vulnerable to further damage.

Conservation stitching is kept relaxed, because tension causes buckling or gathering that can break old threads and cause further damage.

Canadian Conservation Institute guidance suggests that support fabrics used in textile conservation should generally match the fibre of the object, such as wool with wool and silk with silk.

Under the American Institute for Conservation's code, any compensation for loss should be documented, detectable on examination and reversible.

Met conservators treated two late-17th-century Indian textile fragments with a poppy pattern, described as dastarkhans or 'summer carpets', using gel poultices to reduce tideline stains before they could be displayed.

Dry rot affects plant-based foundation fibres such as cotton and jute: prolonged damp lets microbes break down the cellulose, leaving yarns stiff and brittle, and the damage cannot be reversed.

In rug repair, reweaving rebuilds lost foundation (warp and weft) and hand-ties new knots to match the original, whereas reknotting replaces pile in areas where the foundation is still intact.

Conservation of antique rugs typically favours stabilising damage and documenting interventions over returning a piece to 'like new', since over-restoration can erase historical character.

When a rug's fringe wears short, an overcasting stitch across the end is commonly used to stop the weft rows from unravelling one by one.

A damaged rug side (selvedge) can often be rebuilt by sewing on a new cotton cord and wrapping it with wool yarn to replace the original side finish.

The Institute of Conservation stresses that each rug has its own characteristics, so a treatment that suits one piece may not suit another; a conservator should assess condition first.

The AIC's guidance asks conservators to weigh the benefits of chosen materials and methods against possible adverse effects on future examination, research and treatment.

In conservation, documentation means recording in a permanent format the information gathered through examination and treatment, so later conservators know what was done.

Old adhesive repairs can themselves become a conservation problem; Met conservators have used poultices to remove past adhesive treatments from pile carpets.