Hand-tufted rugs, explained

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What tufted means

In a tufted rug, the pile is attached to a backing rather than knotted onto warps. The FTC's Textile rules define a floor covering backing as "that part of a floor covering to which the pile, face, or outer surface is woven, tufted, hooked, knitted, or otherwise attached".

Hand-tufted and machine-tufted

A hand-tufted rug has its tufts set into the backing by a person using a hand tool. A machine-tufted rug is made on a tufting machine. The maker's description and label tell you which.

From handcraft to industry

The New Georgia Encyclopedia says Catherine Evans Whitener revived the handcraft of tufting in the 1890s. It says that by the 1920s, thousands of people in north Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee had built a cottage industry making tufted bedspreads, and that in the 1930s mechanics adapted industrial sewing machines into tufting machines.

Tufted vs hand-knotted

Encyclopaedia Iranica describes knotted pile as yarns wrapped around the warps between foundation wefts, then cut. Tufted pile is set into a backing instead. Both give a pile surface; the structure underneath differs.

The label covers the face

The FTC says backings of carpets or rugs are not covered by the Textile Act labeling requirements. Its rules say fiber content on a floor covering with an exempt backing relates only to the face, pile, or outer surface.

Sources: eCFR, 16 CFR Part 303, Rules and Regulations Under the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act; New Georgia Encyclopedia, Carpet Industry; Encyclopaedia Iranica, Carpets iii. Knotted-pile carpets: Techniques and structures; FTC, Threading Your Way Through the Labeling Requirements Under the Textile and Wool Acts.

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