Today we're going to give you an insight into what Carpet Edging and Hall Runners are all about and why it's done.
Carpets
Carpet comes in standard widths of 3.6 or 4m wide. Sometimes you may end up with a lot of offcuts or none at all. Usually when carpet gets laid in a house you will end up with many offcuts, this is due to irregular size and shaped rooms. Hallway Runners come in standard widths of 67cm or 80cm on rolls of 20-30 metres long, and once cut to length the ends need overlocking for a nice finished look and to stop the fraying of the ends.
What Do You Use the Offcuts of Carpet For?
In most cases people use the offcuts to place over the high traffic areas of their new house, this helps to prolong the life of their newly laid carpet or wooden floors, areas like hallways, doorways, living rooms or activity rooms are just some. Very commonly the offcuts, once overlocked, are used to protect wood flooring or placed over tiles to add warmth, it's totally up to the individual, but carpet isn't cheap, so why not make use of your offcuts!
What Do You Need Hallway Runner Rugs For?
Many homes these days have wood or tiled floors and need hallway runners to add warmth or character for decorative reasons. Another reason for hallway runner rugs is to protect your floors, since you have invested a lot of money in them, why wouldn't you want to look after them. Another reason is for your own wellbeing, standing on a runner rug in a kitchen for example is much better for your legs and back than standing on a wood or tiled floor. They will also help to minimise the echoing of sounds and keep people's feet warm when walking around their homes.
How Is Carpet Overlocking Done?
Using a particular industrial sewing machine called a carpet overlocker. We overlock a border of yarn approximately 15mm wide. This will provide an outstanding finish to any carpet remnant and will also prevent your carpet from fraying.
What Do I Need to Do With My Offcuts?
You should work out what sizes you require for areas that need mats, usually doorways or traffic areas to help protect the new carpet etc. You then need to check if there is enough carpet offcut left over to make up the mats you require.
How Should I Have the Corners of My Mats or Runners Finished Off?
There are two ways the corners of mats or hallway runners are finished off. For the majority of all carpet mats rounded corners are recommended, the reason is it helps prevent the corners from curling up or dog earing, plus it's stronger as it's a continual stitch, not to mention a neater finish, whereas square corners have a weak spot where the overlocking starts and stops. The standard method used for overlocking the ends of hallway runners is to have square corners, this is for a few reasons: firstly, there is usually a pattern on hallway runners and having round corners would cut part of the pattern off. Secondly, we can't always match the edging colour, so with square corners the overlocking is only adjoining the original stitching at the very tip, making it less noticeable.
What Overlocking Colour to Use?
The colour of yarn used is usually as close as possible to the carpet or hallway runner, but we normally go a slightly darker shade as a general rule. In some cases contrasting colours or bright colours are also sewn onto the carpet remnants, it all comes down to individual preference and style. Just bring in your measurements and carpet to be quoted.
Who Does Carpet Overlocking?
Well if you live in Perth Western Australia, you can take your carpet remnants to ScatterMats Rug Warehouse, where we have been overlocking and modifying all types of carpets and rugs for over 40 years. We do all our carpet edging in-store and we have the largest variety of yarn colours to choose from.