A Wilton carpet is a woven wool carpet noted for having up to, but never more than, five colors per pattern. These carpets are available in many patterns as well as textures such as looped or a cut-velvet appearance.

Types of Wilton carpets include the face-to-face, single frame and multi-frame. In a face-to-face Wilton carpet, machines weave two backings attached by pile yarn. The yarn is then cut to form two cut pile carpets.

A single frame Wilton carpet is also known as a plain Wilton and it is produced as a looped pile carpet which may either stay looped or be cut by blades added to the weaving machine. Cut and loop pattern rows are also possible in the single frame technique and may be formed with multi-colored yarns.

The multi-frame method produces Wilton rugs in textures that other machine types cannot achieve. The multi-frame rug is also known as a Jacquard Wilton carpet. As the multi-frame technique involves colors of yarn strands being carried inside the backing, a thick durable carpet is formed with a padded look and feel to it.

The Wilton carpet is known for its strength and durability and is a popular choice for commercial areas as it can stand up to high traffic. Patterned or sometimes solid color, Wilton carpeting is often used on airliners and passenger trains as well as in hotels. A Wilton carpet can also be used in residential applications, but Wilton area rugs are more common for domestic use than the wall-to-wall carpeting.

Wilton carpets are divided into single and double-sided Wilton carpets. Single-sided Wilton carpets have good appearance retention, stable carpet shape and no hair loss. Because of their special raw materials, they have excellent flame retardant and antistatic properties. It is very suitable for use on aircraft with extremely high flame retardant performance requirements. In addition, the carpet is very suitable for high-end yacht carpets, passenger ship carpets and high-end hotel carpets. The double-layer Wilton carpet has the characteristics of full fabric, compact structure, and heavier square meter velvet yarn.

Traditional Wilton

The traditional method of woven Wilton involves running yarn continually through the process creating the carpet pile and the backing. Where a colour does not appear on the surface it appears in the back of the carpet.  At the point in the design where a specific colour is required pins then raise the pile yarn to the surface of the carpet from the backing to create the design.  Can be manufactured in all cut or all loop pile as well as alternating cut and loop.  Wilton is limited to a maximum of 5 colours and can be expensive due to the dormant yarn running through the backing. 

Brussels Wilton

Weaving on Fine Brussels Jacquard Wilton 5 frame looms, like the Wilton looms involves yarn running continually through the weaving process creating the carpet pile and the backing. Where a colour does not appear on the surface it runs in the back of the carpet, at the point in the design where a specific colour is required the needles then raise the pile yarn to the surface of the carpet from the backing to create the design.  These are determined by the 'stamped' jacquard cards that sit on the top of the loom. These cards work in a similar way to the computer programming: using 0's and 1's (jacquard cards were the first form of computerisation). Fine Brussels Wilton Carpets can be manufactured in cut or loop pile as well as being able to create patterns of cut and loop.  Brussels Wilton is not limited to 5 colours as planting of bobbins in the frames at the back of the loom mean that many colours can be used. However a high number is unusual; 6 to 8 colours are much more common. Brussels Wilton is a very hard-wearing carpet woven at 9.5 pitch with 11, 12 or 13 rows per inch, at 2 and three shot (cotton weft per row) that creates a durable carpet with a very fine weave.

Face-to-Face Wilton

The Face to face Wilton process is similar to the traditional Wilton manufacturing except this time the material is woven between two backing processes creating a sandwich effect. A blade then slices the material into two creating top and bottom carpets which are identical, but mirrored.  The process is very cost effect with no yarn wastage, but can only be produced as cut pile carpet.  Most plain Wilton uses the face to face manufacturing method. 

Flatweave Wilton

 A flatweave carpet is created by interlacing warp (vertical) and weft (horizontal) threads.  As the yarn lies flat they do not have a pile, and due to difficulty with seaming, flatweaves are more commonly available as runners and rugs. Design is restricted to the patterns created by the interweaving of the warp and weft and the different types of yarn that can be used.  

Wilton weave carpet can be created in different textures and so is the preferred weaving method where a loop pile (known as ‘Brussels’ weave), or cut-and-loop texture is preferred. Using fewer colours, and with restrictions on pattern repeat size, designs tend to be simpler or even plain. Like axminster weaving, the quality of a wilton carpet can be adjusted by altering the number of rows, again from 6-row to 12-row.

Wilton weaving generally involves fewer colours with the yarn running continuously, either at the surface or in the back. Whichever weaving method is used, the result is much the same; a beautiful, high-quality and dimensionally stable carpet suitable for heavy-wear applications.