Out Out Damned Cat: Repairing Yet Another Rug

Lizzie, the culprit

​​She looks really innocent, doesn't she?
She is a very sweet cat.  
Her name is Lizzie.  
She is two now,
​Lizzie narrowly escaped death by weaver at age one. 

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​I have (had) a handwoven wool rug at my front doorway.  I wove the rug over a decade ago when we lived in Buffalo.  So about a year ago I bent over to pick up what I thought was a dead moth on the rug. Much to my horror, I discovered it was a severed knot from one of the fringe bouts.  On further inspection I realized that the knots had been chewed off of no fewer than THIRTY FIVE fringe bouts!

1 of 35 severed fringe bouts

​There were only three possibilities (all cats):

1. Pressy who was 21 years old and could hardly walk
2. Dexter who was 16 years old and literally has no teeth
3. Lizzie the baby in the family, full of vim and vigor and still teething and about to be murdered by her loving mother

So Lizzie was found guilty by a process of elimination.  I pulled the rug up and growled and fumed for a few days while I debated what to do.

Fully a year later, I finally got around to repairing this debacle.  Fortunately, I still had some of the linen I used for the warp for the rug.  And the structure of the rug was a simple plain weave.
 

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​Tools needed:

• Heavy duty needle with a sharp point for undoing linen knots
• Linen Warp
• Tapestry needle for weaving in new fringe
• Scissors
• Fringe twister

The tools

A photo journal of the steps for replacing the fringe follows.  The basic steps are:

1. I untwisted the fringe of the severed bout (for this rug the fringe bouts consisted of only 2 warp ends)
2. I untied the knot at the fell of the cloth (using the sharp needle to help pick out the knot)
3. With the tapestry needle, I wove the loose ends 3/4-1" back up into the rug alongside the warp thread NEXT to the thread I was weaving in
4. I trimmed the ends close to the surface of the rug
5. I cut a piece of rug warp that was about 14" long and wove it 1 1/4" - 2" up into the rug along one warp end, turned and wove down along the other warp end back to the fell of the cloth
6. I knotted the 2 ends together at the fell (like the original 2 warp ends were knotted) 
7. I twisted the fringe (the 2 new warp ends) and knotted at 3" and clipped close to the knot
8. I repeated this for 23 bouts on one end of the rug and 12 on the other end of the rug, until my fingers were raw and the rug was almost back to new!

 

The fringe has been untwisted

The knot at the fell has been untied

Weaving the right warp end up alongside the left warp end

Weaving the left warp end up alongside the right warp end

Both warp ends woven back into the rug

Old warp ends trimmed close to the rug surface

New warp ends woven up 2" into the rug and back down to the fell

New warp ends pulled snuggly into the cloth

New warp ends ready to knot at the fell

Warp ends knotted at the fell, twisted, knotted at 3" and ready to trim

The finished repair

What a relief to finally have this little project done and the rug repaired.  I have missed having it at my front door.  ​

​But unfortunately now it will probably go back into storage for another two years because....

​Piper has arrived.
Piper is 2 months old.
She is a good kitten.
She has teeth.

Piper, the new kitten

Truth be told, the rug would probably have stayed in the closet waiting to be repaired if I had not been inspired and shamed into doing this simple repair after watching this incredible post on Facebook.  Watch and be amazed:  Oriental Rug Rebuild

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