5 Finishing Techniques For Tufted Rugs

January 17, 2022

Tufting

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Table Of Contents

Finishing Options For Rugs
Floor Rugs
Wall Rugs
- Hardcover Backs
#Bonus 01: Framed Rugs
#Bonus 02: Mirrors

Finishing Options For Rugs

The first time you see a tufted rug you can ask, what about the back? How is the back looking? I will share different alternatives for backing that I think are the best options to use. Finishing and finalizing the tufted rug is one of the most important steps in the whole process. If you miss this step it can affect the life span of the rug especially in the case of a floor rug.

There are different options to use as a backing material. These ones are the most popular backing alternatives for the tufted rugs:

Non-slip Rug Pads
Felt Backing Cloth
Action Bac
Other Flexible Fabric

All of these options can be applied as a backing to the tufted rugs. For the floor rugs, non-slip options can be more practical compared to any other normal backings. However, it is also possible to leave it without any backing applied to the rug, the properly implemented glue will be sufficient to keep all the piles in the cloth. Now, allow me to share my favorite finishing techniques for different purposed rugs.

Floor Rugs

The floor rugs are the ones that will need the most protection as a backing. Any kind of tufted rugs is not preferred to be used in high traffic areas, such as corridors, in front of the gates, etc. The best would be to use them in the light traffic areas. For this purpose rugs, the Non-slip Rug Pads can be a good material for backing.

It is possible to purchase this Rug Pad from local stores like Home Depot or online from platforms such as Etsy, AliExpress, or Amazon, in large sizes and cut it according to your design. This thick, blanket-like additional layer is going to make your rug feel like higher quality with the extra solidness and weight to it. It is soft and flexible enough to bend the final product as much as you wish to and it is easy to work with.

After the applied glue is completely dry you can cut the rug from your frame and it is ready to put the backing on. There are a few different possibilities that you can follow but it is best to experiment few options and see which one is the best fit for you.

As a first option, after the glue drying process has been done you can cut the extra leftover tufting cloth on the sides completely as close as possible to the rug and glue backing fabric on the rug surface. In this technique, the sides of the rugs give the feeling of it is ”not completed yet” or ”not high quality” so because of this look you can add another extra step to your workflow.

The easiest but probably most time-consuming solution can be binding the edges by hand with the same kind of yarn you used for the rug itself. It can take hours to finish even for the relatively small size of rug. Alternative to binding the edges by hand, you can search for local carpet shops that can do this step with help of a machine and you can pay for them. Or it is possible to find some ready-to-use products like Bending Tapes. You can cover the edges of the rug with these tapes and it will cover the visible tufting cloth and prevent any damage to the edges.

On the other hand, it is possible to follow a different approach when applying the backing fabric. Instead of cutting the tufting cloth as close as possible to the rug surface, you can leave 2-3cm (1 inch) extra cloth and then fold these extra parts to the back. If the glue is still not perfectly dried, it can help to stick edges if not hot glue would do a good job to stick these extra parts to the back.

After the fixation of these edges, we can measure the dimension of our rug to cut the same size as the backing fabric that we would like to use. Once the piece is ready, it is convenient to use spray glue to fix the backing fabric to the rug.

Finally, it is possible to use any kind of flexible fabric to cover the backside of it. I do not think that there is a ”the wrong answer” for that.

Wall Rugs

In my opinion, the best use of a tufted rug is as a wall hanging. In this area, you can get more creative with the backing solution. Even though it is completely okay to use the exact same solution for the Floor Rugs, I choose a slightly different option.

Hardcover Backs

You can add a hardboard to the backside of the rug, covered with a backing fabric. This will help the rug to stay properly without any bending, especially on the corners or edges. Also, I believe it gives a more premium feeling when you touch it.

To place a hard covering, you only need any type of hardboard material. Instead of directly gluing the backing fabric to the backside of the rug, you can wrap the hardboard with the fabric first and glue it together to the rug. Additional to the glue, we can also use a stapler from the front side to fix the tufting cloth to the hardboard more properly. Between the loops, a few staples will be enough to increase connection.

#Bonus 01: Framed Rugs

This one is really similar to the hardboard covers. In this option instead of a hardboard material, all you need is a Picture Frame. In order to use this idea, it is better to consider this option from the beginning of the tufting process, from the design part. Because it can be problematic to find a frame with the exact same dimension as your existing rug.

Once you have the rug ready with glued back, you can just fit your rug into the opening of the picture frame and close the back part of the frame. If you would like to make it more stable, you can glue the backing to the rug or use some staples the same way with the hardboard.

#Bonus 02: Mirrors

Creating custom mirrors decorated with tufted rugs become a popular trend in the last couple of years. At first look, it can look confusing and you may ask how to fix the mirror to the rug, but it is really simple and similar to the other techniques. After the design and the tufting process are done, we can fold the extra tufting cloth to the back from the edges with the help of a hot glue gun. It is possible to think to mirror the same as the backing fabric and just place it onto the mirror after we glue the back properly.

*_{Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.}