How To Tell The Difference Between A Hand-Knotted And Machine Made Oriental Area Rug

Question:  I have several Oriental area rugs and would like to know how to tell if they are hand-made or machine made…

This article is intended to help you tell the difference between a handmade (or hand knotted) rug and a machine made rug. This will help you when you are in the market to purchase a rug. The more you know about rugs before purchasing one, then the less chance you have of getting ripped off during the process.  There are also differences in the cleaning of a synthetic rug vs. a natural fiber. So knowing what type of rug you have can help you when it comes time to take your rugs to the rug cleaning plant.

• Few, if any, hand knotted rugs have a “rug tag” on the back and almost all machine made rugs will have tags, similar to the one below.
• If a rugs pile is made from polyester, olefin, nylon, polypropylene, or any other synthetic fiber then the rug is a machine made rug.
• If a rug is made in Belgium, Italy or somewhere else in Western Europe then it is very likely a machine made rug.

So if you still can’t tell whether or not you have a hand-made rug or a machine made rug then here are some other things to look for on the rug itself.  By knowing a few simple things, you will be able to look at the front and back of a rug and know what you are looking at.

Handmade rug front – Fringe is actually part of the warp yarns, not sewn on. Hand stitched edging may not be perfectly straight.

Picture 2 – Handmade rug back – White knots are part of rugs foundation, edge is not perfectly straight and fringe is not sewn on which is easier to tell from the back.