Hand tufting is a newer technique, that has been developed to combine the ancient craft of weaving with modern day technology. The way hand-tufting works is that the weaver starts with a sheet of canvas or similar material and pulls wool strands through this using a tufting gun or tool.

This canvas backing has the design of the rug drawn up on its back and as the weavers weave the rug they fill in the design with yarn working from the back. The yarn strands are brought in and out of the canvas base so the rug pile is built up over time. The hand-tufted quality offers unlimited possibilities and is ideal for projects where precision, scale and time are of the essence.

Hand-tufted rugs aren’t made on a loom but are created with a tool called a tufting gun. Additional patterns can be carved on the rug with a tufting gun.

A textile worker or artisan creates a hand-tufted rug by placing strands of wool or yarn on a frame and punching the strands with a tufting tool. This process takes less time than hand-knotting, and anyone can learn it and make a hand-tufted rug without much training.

The process begins when a weaver makes a backing with a design. A textile worker or weaver uses the tufting gun to inject yarn or cotton into it. When all the yarn or other material has been injected into the pattern, another piece, called a scrim, is placed on the rug with latex glue to keep fibers intact. The weaver then shears the carpet loops so the rug becomes flat and suitable for foot traffic. The edges of some hand-tufted rugs are bound to make them stronger.

Look at the back of a rug to determine if it is hand-tufted. You’ll see the applied coating that secures the tufts covered by canvas or another type of material.