Handmade v/s Machine Rugs

If you are looking for the best colourful rugs collections or checking the top 10 handmade rugs available online or trying to figure out what rug suits your requirement, you need to first go through the various weaving techniques used in the construction of any rug.

The most confusing state while buying a rug is to distinguish between handmade & machine made rugs. It is not at all easy to make out the difference between the two with just a casual glance especially when you do not have much knowledge about the construction techniques used in making rugs. At AzaraHome we endeavour to guide your search to reach the best handmade rugs in India. A little knowledge and a closer look can definitely help you to come out of this confusing state.

To get the truth you need to go deep and the same is the case here. One of the best ways to make out the difference between the two types of rugs is to check the reverse side or the back side of the rug. Probably you may get your answer there. If the weaving patterns and the knots are even and uniform it cannot be a handmade one. In a handmade rug you can easily distinguish every single knot as the same is hand done by the weavers manually with hands with slight unevenness. Machine made rug will give a uniform weaving & knotting pattern that is very even and easy to make out.

You will always find the backside of a machine made rug very smooth and even while this is not possible in a handmade rug. You may find some irregularities and minor deformities in a handmade rug.  Machine made rugs are made with automated machines that are pre-programmed to make any number of exactly similar pieces while a handmade rug is almost impossible to be replicated. Due to the handmade nature minor differences are very obvious between two similar rugs made by the same artisan. Thus when it comes to handmade rugs, every piece becomes
special & one of a kind.

In any hand woven or hand knotted rug, the fringe is part of the body of the rug itself. It is basically the warp thread that is extended outside the main body of the rug to be tied together into fringes. In a machine made rug the fringes are created manually to give the rug a handmade look. It is rather sewn at the edges when the machine made rug is completed. You can very well make out this difference by closely monitoring the edges of a rug.

Handmade rugs take time to get completed therefore if they have to be made in numbers several artisans are engaged on the task. It is practically not possible for two artisans perform same. Even the dying process for the yarns used in crafting a rug is manual and slight colour variation can be expected every time the dying process is repeated. All these process that involves human touch attracts variations in production. Whereas in machine made rug the entire lot to be made is pre programmed for the automated machines. Even the dying process is scheduled accordingly. The result is exactly similar rugs with zero variations. To sum up handmade rugs are like hand paintings while machine made rugs are computerised printouts.

The same is when it comes to hand tufted or hand woven rugs. Though the tufting process in a hand tufted rug involves a tufting gun but the same is operated manually by the artisan resulting in slight variations in every similar pattern. Though hand tufted rugs are costlier than machine tufted rugs, they do not hold much value for rug lovers. Even the hand tufting process is very fast as compared to hand knotted technique and therefore the tufted rugs become less precious.

Handloom rugs are often soft in texture and more resilient whereas power loom rugs will be comparatively stiffer & hard in feel due to the compact weaving and even spreading of the weft which happens in power loom. To test the softness & its malleability you need to check the hand feel over the rug. Power looms are mostly used to produce cotton rugs as the prime objective is to bring down the cost using the most colour friendly yarn. Power loom rugs are mostly backed with latex to give it additional strength.

We hope that the above tips will help you in choosing the best handmade rugs & carpets that suits best to your decor and is easy on your pocket.