Tufted Carpets Garden Nursery Landscaping Guide
Tufted Carpets For Better Home Decor
By Joel F Mornigstar
The history of tufted carpets is very colorful and interesting.
It started in the 1890s with a woman from Georgia named Catherine
Evans Whitener. From there, the craft gained popularity until,
by 1920, it had spread throughout Tennessee, Georgia, and North
and South Carolina.
It soon progressed from a hand woven craft to a thriving mechanical
process. By the 1930s, Singer had adapted an industrial sewing
machine for use in the mass manufacture of tufted bedspreads,
robes, toilet tank and seat covers, area rugs and small scatter
rugs. At the end of the 1940s, the tufted-textile industry had
become a multi-million dollar industry.
The Growth In Popularity Of Tufted Carpets
The popularity of the tufted carpet grew so quickly that manufacturers
and machine developers quickly found it necessary to adapt the
tufting machines used for making bedspreads to have the ability
to mass produce rugs that were room sized and to make wall-to-wall
carpeting.
Mohawk, out of New York, largely dominated the high-priced carpet
industry until the 1950s, using power looms and expensive natural
wool fibers. During the 1950s, companies like E.T. Barwick Mills
and Cabin Crafts, based in Georgia, started using their tufting
machines and large pieces of backing material to create a new
era of less expensive carpeting.
The Greatest Benefit Is The Cheaper Price
Instead of the expensive wool fibers, these manufacturers were
using the less costly fiber of cotton. This enabled them to produce
carpets and rugs that resembled the expensive woven products.
Efficiency was the greatest benefit to the new tufting process
and enabled manufacturers to sell new carpets and rugs for half
the price of the woven wool rugs.
Manufacturers of tufted carpets ran into problems with the manufacturers
of wool carpets, however, when they began deriding their carpets
as being of poor quality because of the cotton fibers used in
the manufacturing process. That problem was resolved in 1957 when
DuPont developed the bulked, continuous filament nylon.
Nylon Replaced Cotton To Improve Quality And Endurance
This nylon proved to be as inexpensive as cotton, but with the
performance of wool. This new technology was the start of a boon
to the textile industry in Georgia. The average price per square
foot was literally cut almost in half. In the 1960s, the carpet
industry became one of the fastest growing industries.
By the turn of the new century, there were only four companies
that controlled the bulk of the carpeting industry. Shaw, Beaulieu,
Mohawk and Interface, all Georgia based companies. They made up
80% of the industry. Interface was the newest company and instead
of concentrating on the residential market, they chose to branch
out into the commercial market.
"Modular carpeting," or floor mats, became the new
thing for businesses, institutions and offices. Thus began a whole
new section of the tufted carpets industry.
About the Author:
Joel F Morningstar has written a number of articles on home improvement,
gardening and landscaping including Backyard
Landscaping, Miniature
Fruit Trees, Pepper
Plant, Coffee
Plant, Front
Yard Landscape, Lawn
Swing, Fast
Growing Trees, Stone
Walkway, Big
Backyard, Deck
Ideas, Asphalt
Paving, Swing
Set Backyard, Outdoor
Decor, Patio
Garden, Furniture,
Lawn
And Garden, Design
Landscaping, Lawn
Care, The
Landscape, The
Lawn, Lawn
Garden.
Keep a lookout for more of his articles on this website.
Little Known Home Decorating Facts....
What type of carpet was invented first?
The first types of carpets produced were
probably those woven on looms in a similar fashion that fabric
was and still is made. The yarns used are very colorful and you
can create intricate designs and patterns from the different colors.
These are definitely the most expensive
types of carpets that you can buy as they are each done by hand.
You can find machine woven carpets but you lack the personal touch
of a hand weaver that has poured his or her time and effort into
the carpet.
Most carpets today are made with synthetic
fibers and are done with a machine. But you can still find hand-made
carpets made of natural fibers. You can expect to pay more for
the natural fiber carpets that are hand made and stitched or woven
on a loom.
Rugs, lamps, pictures and throws can be overwhelming to someone
without decorating experience. Items that look great in pictures
seem to not go well with your furniture or vice versa. It takes
a bit of knowledge and creativity to bring together different
elements into one cohesive, beautiful design.
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