How to Repair Hooked Wool Rugs

Hooked wool rugs have been commonly used to add beauty to the interior flooring of homes for quite some time. These types of rugs can be found in antique shops and other such places. If you do find such a rug that needs repair, it can be accomplished with a few steps and the right tools.

What you will need:

Thread, sharp tapestry needle, scissors, pencil, X-acto knife, latch hook, binding material, yarn that matches the rug, burlap

Directions:

1. Look over the rug with great care so that you can get a good determination of the extent of the damage to the rug. Make sure to check around the rug's edges where the binding is. Also, look for any holes or breaks in the body of the rug.


2. Turn the rug over and draw circles with your pencil to mark the spots where replacements are needed.


3. Using your X-acto knife, cut along the areas where the circles were drawn to cut off the portions of the rug that were damaged. Take great care when you are cutting into the rug to only remove the damaged areas and not make excessive cuts. You should also cut away any part of the binding that will require replacement.


4. Cut out matching pieces of burlap so that they will properly fit the cloth that you cut away in the previous step. Slip these pieces of burlap into the holes that you cut into the rug.


5. Using an eighteen-inch length of doubled thread, tying a knot at the end of the threads, thread your needle.


6. Use the needle to sew the pieces of burlap into their respective holes. Use very small, cautious stitching on this part. You will want the burlap to fit into the holes as perfectly as possible, so that the edge where the old and new fabric come together looks natural. When you are through with each hole, tie a knot and clip the thread before starting on the next hole.


7. Carry the rug with you to a shop to match the rug with new yarn. If you cannot find an exact match for the yarn in your rug, get as close to a match as you can.


8. Using latch hooks, apply the new yarn to fill in the holes. Make sure that you trim the hooked yarn to where it is the same length as the yarn on your rug.


9. Inspect the binding in your rug and try to duplicate the replacement binding as closely as possible.