How to Clean and Repair Rug Fringes

In this blog entry, the professional New Jersey rug cleaning team here at Carpetline will detail the best ways to clean and repair rug fringes.

Cleaning Rug Fringes

Fringes are the tassels on the end of rugs that keep them from unraveling. They are considered the foundation of the rug, being the end pieces of the rug’s warp – the foundational yarn that is attached between tassels. They are not just decorative – they actually keep the rug together, and unfortunately can become dirty quickly.

What can damage rug fringes?

  • Bleaching can damage rug fringes, and unfortunately manufacturers often bleach rug fringes when they are new to make them bright white. This causes the fringe to easily break away with foot traffic, and can cause fringe knots to unravel.
  • High foot traffic can wear away rug fringes and tassels – especially if the rugs were initially bleached.
  • Vacuuming with a beater bar can be too harsh on rug fringes, as the fringes often get sucked in by the vacuum where the beater bar will damage its fibers.

How are rug fringes cleaned and repaired?

  • If the rug is not silk, steam cleaning is a great way to clean rug fringes. Seam with a combination of mild chemicals, utilizing hot water extraction, can make dramatic improvements in dirty rug fringes.
  • Another Solution is hiding the original rug fringes under the rug and attaching new fake fringes. The new fringes will simply serve a visual purpose, while the original fringes will remain in place to keep the rug together. This can lower the chances of damage to the structural fringes. 
  • Never cut a rug fringe yourself. However, you can have original fringes professionally removed with new stitching sewn into the rug to keep it together, in a process known as binding. Endstop stitches will be installed to prevent knots from loosening away from the rug’s warp. This has to be done professionally.
  • If you want the rug’s original fringes to be visible, but are worried about breakage, we recommend asking our professional rug repair team for assistance in re-knotting the rug tassels and restoring the rug fringes.