Cleaning Old Wool Coats For Rug Making

Fill another bucket with plain cold water.

Cleaning old wool coats for rug making.

A few dos and don ts. The solvents used will dry out the natural oils in the wool fibers making them weak and brittle. Ventilate the room well and use air movers or blowers in strategic positions to facilitate drying when possible. Old clothing that is too worn out to donate is the perfect material for making rag rugs.

The only time you should be taking any liquid cleaner to your vintage rug is to spot clean a stain. I ve made a video showing you the best way to cut up t shirts to make rag rugs. Pour a capful of woolite or the recommended amount of a similar product into a bucket of cold water. Don t steam clean your rug.

Although this is the method used before vacuum cleaners were invented the method survived as homemakers quickly realized there was less and less wool on their rugs everyday after using beater bar vacuum cleaners. If you need a deeper more thorough cleaning of your vintage wool hooked rug you may want to hire a professional that deals in vintage rugs. Make a braided rug from recycled wool. Do not dry clean your rug.

Do use cool or lukewarm water and the smallest amount of shampoo cleaner recommended by the manufacturer. There was a reason they used to beat their in the old days for wool rugs cleaning. Before starting work test a small patch of the rug. Cleaning wool carpets the right way.

Add a bit of white distilled vinegar to help neutralize pet odors. Use old wool blankets skirts and suits as the material for a braided rag rug and keep old wool out of landfills. If you ve rented a deep cleaning machine such as a rug doctor make an extra vacuum only pass or two without squeezing the red spray button to help recover moisture and speed up the drying process. The quicker wool carpets dry the better.

Think of the havoc heat wreaks on a wool sweater. Always use a stain remover recommended for wool rugs like esr emergency stain rescue a gentle cleaner like woolite or simple dishwashing liquid and lukewarm water. Once you cut it up into strips you don t notice any holes or staining in the fabric. Never apply chlorine bleach ammonia or even oxygen bleach to a wool rug.

If you choose to clean your wool rug with a rented or purchased rug cleaning machine follow all of the rug cleaning machine manufacturer s instructions and test on a small area before making your first full pass. Because most vintage rugs are made of wool they require professional hand washing says ben hyman cofounder and ceo of revival rugs a company that works with artisans in istanbul to to offer. There are processes that will protect the foundation and the preserve the colors of the dyes.