Carpet Made Simple

Carpet Styles

Carpet is made through a process called tufting. The yarn is stitched through a backing material by gigantic sewing machines with hundreds of rows of sewing needles, creating thousands of tufts made of looped yarn. The backing material is then coated with an adhesive or latex to lock the tufts in place.

Carpet is generally categorized as:

• Cut Pile created by cutting the looped yarn;
• Berber the looped yarn is left intact; or
• Patterned combining looped yarn with cut yarn, or using different heights of looped yarn, to create a pattern.

There are many different styles, colors and textures of carpet to choose from, each creating a different feel in the home, and conveying a different message about the homeowners personal style. The Design Consultants job is to help the homeowner select the carpet that is right for them.

Cut Pile Carpet

Cut pile carpet, the most popular style of carpet in the residential market, is available in a number of different styles.

Saxony is produced by cutting the tufts of yarn to a smooth, uniform height with consistent color, creating a relatively formal look.

Saxony, sometimes referred to as Plush, is noted for its luxurious elegance and soft, dense carpet pile and is available in a wide array of solid hues.

Nap refers to the direction in which the tufts of yarn lay. If the nap runs in one direction, as it does with Saxony carpet, light reflects the same off each tuft. If you change the direction of some tufts (by walking on the carpet, for example), light will reflect differently off that section of the carpet, creating a mark. Thats why Saxony carpet tends to show footprints and vacuum cleaner marks.

Sculptured Saxony is a form of Saxony in which the tufts are cut at various heights to create a pattern or design.

Textured carpet also offers a level finish, but the yarns have more twist than Saxony, causing the tufts to bend over just slightly, producing a more casual style.

The yarn used to make textured carpet is steamed, causing the yarn to curl. As a result, the tufts face in different directions, creating the appearance of multi-colored yarn and producing a textured look. In addition, because the tufts already face in different directions, walking on the tufts does NOT create a visible path.