Our Rug Repair and Restoration service
Here at Gabbeh Art in Art we repair and restore (as well as clean) all kinds of rugs and carpets for our customer. We carry out repairs on everything from simple fringe securing and binding to large tears, holes and areas of moth damage. Repairs are carried out at our premises in Kingston by expert craftsman and ex-weavers.
It's important to examine your handmade rugs closely from time-to-time, and check for damaged areas that may become big problems later:
- Unraveling of the selvedge (sides) is not uncommon if a rug is in a high-traffic area.
- Broken or released binding on the ends can lead to a significant loss of the rug's surface area (rows of pile knots may be lost!).
- Heavily-worn areas of the rug's pile should be re-woven before the foundation becomes damaged.
- Parts of a rug placed under furniture for long periods may begin to stress from table legs, heavy couch or bed posts, etc.
- Pets often chew parts of your rug that may be hidden from view (for example, under a couch or bed)!
- Rugs that are in dark or low-traffic areas may suffer damage from moths.
Most common Rug repairs can be categorized as follows:
Repairing worn fringes of rugs
Most damage occurs to the edges of rugs, usually to the fringes, binding and to the cord along the side. All are relatively easy to repair. We can restore and replace missing ends and secure the edges to prevent further damage. The edges of hand-knotted rugs will be rewrapped by hand using fibres as near as possible to the original colour and texture of the rug. If the foundation or edge cording is worn through, it will first have to be rebuilt.
Wear and tear
Restoration of a rug can go as far as re-weaving a significantly large worn area or simply putting fringes back together. We use hand spun wool and tailor made vegetable dyes individually mixed for colour matching to suit the needs of the rug. We can advise you on the viability of a repair, relative to the value of the rug in question.
Repairing holes in rugs
Try not to ignore these, they will only get bigger! Reweaving holes is easier if the warp and the weft of the rug do not have to be replaced in addition to re-piling or re-knotting. It is very important that the right yarn texture, finish and colour are matched to the existing rug. For this reason, sewing in patches has limited value, if any - especially on a good Oriental rug. Restoration by reweaving is highly recommended.
Brightening a faded rug or correcting a colour run
In their lifetime most rugs suffer from some form of spillage, either due to burst pipes, leaky radiators or even pets accidents. Some rugs will cope with liquids better than others and we often only find out after the event. If your rug has had a colour run we can, in most cases, remove the stain or colour run successfully. If you have a rug which is worn, faded or looking a little tired, we can hide the rugs wear by re-colouring the faded colours and patterns using permanent dyes.
Moth damage
Most moth damaged areas can be rewoven and restored. We also recommend our Moth Treatment to avoid further infestations and costly rug repair in the future.
If it's a minor repair on a newer piece, or a full-on restoration of a cherished antique, let the experts at Gabbeh Art in Arti do the job right! We have years and years of experience with pile rugs, kelims, sumaks, tapestries... literally rugs from all over the world. Our services are but not limited to:
- fringe repair
- binding (ends)
- Selvedge (sides)
- re-knotting
- patches
- rebuilds
- hanging loops or velcro
- complete restoration or re-weaving
Get in touch today for a free repair quotation.