Hooking 101: Wool-Covered Cord Finish

Noah’s Ark, 30″ x 24″, #4-, 6-, and 8-cut wool on linen. Designed by Patsy Becker and hooked by Margaret Lutz, Flemington, New Jersey, 1999. Finished with wool-covered cord.

TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARGARET LUTZ/ILLUSTRATIONS BY TESSA SWEIGERT

When it came time for me to finish the largest rug I’d ever hooked—9 feet by 12 feet—I knew I’d need to use a top-notch finishing technique. I have many rugs in my home, and through the years, the best hooked-rug edges have been those finished with strips of wool. Wool has extraordinary wear qualities, and when cording is encased in wool, it creates a bumper effect that enhances those wear qualities even more.

GETTING STARTED

The first task is to keep the foundation from fraying while you work on the binding. Choose one of these three options:

1.  Serge the edge of the rug. This finishes the edge and also cuts away the excess backing. This is the easiest and quickest option.
2. Use a regular sewing machine. Set the machine to a medium zigzag stitch (about 10 stitches per inch). Stitch along the edge parallel to the last row of hooking around the entire perimeter, ending where you began stitching. Now make a second row of zigzag stitches parallel to the first row, about 1/4 inch away. Cut off the excess backing material beyond the outermost row of zigzags.
3. If you do not have a sewing machine, you can stitch by hand. Hand stitch around the perimeter twice, making two rows close together for strength and good coverage. Make your stitches no longer than 1/4 inch.

Next, choose a piece of cording. Cording 1/8 inch in diameter is good for a fine hooked rug; cording 1/4 inch in diameter is perfect for a primitive hooked rug. Cut the cord about two inches longer than the perimeter of your rug.

Then, choose a wool for the binding. I suggest wool that is background-colored or an otherwise compatibly colored wool. Cut the strips 2 1/2 to 3 inches wide. The total length of the strips should be 6 inches longer than the perimeter of the rug. If you need multiple strips of wool to get around the perimeter of the rug, stitch the strips together end to end with a small seam allowance, right sides facing, to create one long strip before you begin.

Place the cording on the wrong side of the wool strip with the beginning of the cording three inches from the start of the strip. Wrap one lengthwise edge of the strip over the cording. Do not match the long edges of the wool strip. Let the side that you are wrapping over the cording extend only 1/4 inch beyond the cording. Pin the long edge of the wool in place around the cording (Illustration 1).

Install a zipper foot on your sewing machine. Starting at the end of the cording (do not stitch the three-inch section at the beginning of the wool strip), straight stitch as close as possible to the cording to hold it snugly inside the wool. Be careful not to catch the cording in the stitches. You can also stitch the wool over the cording by hand with all-purpose sewing thread. Stop sewing when you have two inches of cording left. (You should have about three inches of wool strip beyond the end of the cording.)

ATTACHING THE BINDING

As you attach the binding, keep in mind that you have two goals:

1. Stitch the cording as close as possible to the last row of hooked loops. You don’t want any of the backing to show when the rug is finished.
2. Make sure the wool strip lies flat along the back of the rug. Any bumps or high spots could compromise the even wear of your rug.

With the right side of the rug facing up, place the binding along the edge of the rug. Start at any point except a corner. The seam along the corded edge should lie against the last row of your hooking, with the shorter side of the wool strip out of sight against the backing and the longer side of the wool strip on top (Illustration 2). Pin the binding in place.

Work by hand to sew the binding to the hooked rug. Use a large needle and a double length of heavy-duty thread. Start sewing two inches from the beginning of the cording (five inches from the beginning of the wool—you’ll need that free bit of cording and wool at the end of the process).

Sew the binding to the rug so the cording is as close as possible to the hooked edge; no backing should be visible after the binding has been sewn to the rug. Make your stitches about 1/4 inch apart.

Sew around the rug, attaching the binding as close to the last row of hooking as possible, until you are four inches from where you started. Lift the beginning end of the wool strip and match it to the end, right sides together. Put the joined edges of the strip against the rug to make sure the wool strip is neither too long nor too short to finish the binding. If necessary, adjust the joint, and seam the ends together (Illustration 3). Cut off any excess wool.

Cut the ends of the cording so they butt together and fit the edge of the rug. Use a doubled thread and a needle to stitch the ends of the cord together.

Wrap the joined wool strip around the stitched-together cording, and continue sewing the binding as close as possible to the last row of hooked loops until the binding is completely attached.

Using the same heavy-duty thread, hand sew the loose edge of the binding to the back of the rug using a small stitch. The blind stitch or overcast stitch are good stitches to use.

A well-crafted wool-and-cording binding will protect your rug for years, even if you put the rug in a high-traffic area. Take the extra time to finish your rug well so that you, your family, and friends will have years of pleasure living with your beautiful hooked rug.

This article originally appeared in the June/July/August 2011 issue of Rug Hooking magazine.