Handmade and Handcrafted – What it means to Homespice

The growing popularity of DIY, the maker and crafter movements have made the terms “handmade” and “handcrafted” quite common and more frequently used in marketing for many products. In regard to rugs, the most familiar example of handmade is a hand-knotted rug. As many as 120-140 knots per square inch is common. This is extremely labor intensive, taking months to complete depending on the size. This is definitely handmade.

So just how much of a rug was “handmade” or “handcrafted”?

Handmade to us at Homespice means that a single piece or item was created by a person or persons physically putting the pieces of the rug together. The rugs are created one at a time. Prior to making the rug, some materials used to construct it may have been mass-produced or mass-treated by machine, such as dyeing materials or cutting the materials into sizes or shapes. In the final step, a sewing machine may be used to finish edges or other parts of the rug, but a person does the sewing on a single rug at a time.

Examples of handmade rugs are woven and rag rugs made one at a time using a loom.

Hooked rugs made by hand are labor intensive, too, but a sewing machine may be used to stitch a backing or edge trimming on it. These rugs are handmade.

Traditional Penny or appliqued rugs made one at time with the applique pieces stitched on by hand are considered handmade. Backing and edge trimming may be done with a sewing machine.

Handcrafted to us means that while some labor required in the construction may have been done by machine, a person was physically working with the materials and production process to create a single rug at a time.

An example is a handcrafted braided rug. A machine may be used to twist the braid together and then the artisan guides and sews the braid pieces together into a rug using a sewing machine to make one rug at a time. See how that is done here. (https://youtube/e7FT4l2j5Qs)

At Homespice, we put a premium on craftsmanship and all of our rugs as well our Penny and hooked accessories are all handcrafted and many also handmade. We value the expertise and pride that our artisans put into our products. We trust their talented hands to produce these high quality products to grace your home and to provide years of beauty and durability – handmade and handcrafted for you.