A variety of area rugs are made using various methods and various materials. The area rug should serve the purpose and also be attractive to look at. There are rugs available in all shapes sizes. There are also expensive and inexpensive area rugs available. The cost of the area rug is decided depending on the material used and also the method used.

The different methods that are used to make rugs are twist, fiber, hand knotted, hand tufted, hand hooked, hand designed, hand painted, hand embroidered, flat weave, braided area rugs, machine made area rugs, wilton woven, wilton side woven and axminster. All these methods have their own advantages and disadvantages, but hand tufted and hand hooked rugs are the most preferred and inexpensive and durable are rugs.

Fibers Used For Making Area Rugs:

Wool
Long staple wool which comes from New-Zealand, is the most effective and most useful wool used for making area rugs. There are many other types of wools that can be used but the New-Zealand wool is the preferred one for making the best wool area rugs.

Worsted wool
This is type of processed wool. The worsted wool has shorter fibers. Due to short fibers it is more durable and also the yarn looks lustrous.

Synthetic fibers
Machine made rugs often use synthetic fibers. The most distinctive advantage of using synthetic fibers is that the bio product of the fibers is non porous. These synthetic fibers are usually stain proof. They are also resistant to all chemical detergents that are generally used for rug cleaning. Overall synthetic fiber is very durable fiber and soft and also very easy to maintain, look for a polypropylene area rug or a mod-acrylic rug.

Cotton
One of the strongest and the most durable natural fiber, cotton is used extensively to make area rugs. While making the rug the fiber is arranged in a typical way and a specific pattern is followed so that it brings out unique properties like absorbency, durability and strength from the fiber. The cotton is collected from the cotton ball and then it is dried to obtain flat, ribbon like twisted fiber, which is interlocked and kinked together. The interlocked fiber is used for making yarn.

Other materials that are used for making rugs are, olefin, heat – set polypropylene, bulk continuous filament, nylon, rayon, faux silk, sisal, synthetic sisal, sea-grass, coir, bamboo, jute.

Natural fiber rugs are inexpensive and very durable as compared to synthetic fiber rugs.