Rug making technique

Where smooth-faced rugs are concerned, or if the pile worker knows himself or herself to be inclined to pull the rug out of shape, stretching will eventually be necessary and it is better to leave all the edging (except the sloping stitches used to prepare the first two corners), to be worked after the rest of the rug is completed and stretched—see Chapter Ten for details of this process.

Although a smooth-faced rug may be of perfect shape when finished, its appearance is invariably improved by damping and stretching; hence the sug­gestion that for all smooth-faced rugs the edging stitch should be left until afterwards.