Best, cheapest, most durable way to rebind a half-circle rug?

March 2, 2011 1:08 PM

What's the easiest, cheapest, and most durable DIY way to rebind the edges of a semi-circle shaped rug?

We got this carpet for my library's story times last year, and it's great...except some toddler managed to pick apart the double-stitched serged edge and then the custodian ran over it with a vacuum, unraveling a good 2.5-foot chunk of the edge. The rest of the edge is intact so far, but that won't last long. I'd like to get it repaired as soon as possible, but there's no budget $$ to get it professionally rebound so I'm hoping to find some solution I can implement on my own.

I have seen Instabind and it looks promising. I have a question in to the manufacturer to see if using it on my rug would be problematic. But I would like to find out if there are other possibilities. All I find when I Google is eHow articles of questionable quality.

I honestly don't care if the result looks a little kludge-y; durability, cost, ease of implementation are the important bits.

Help me, AskMe! I thank you - my tiny story time friends also thank you.

posted by Knicke to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

Easiest, cheapest, most durable would be duct tape.

But it's going to be hideous.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:18 PM on March 2, 2011

It's a little bit difficult to tell from the photo what the edge looks like, but you might consider cutting a piece of poly/cotton clothesline cord in the appropriate circumference and whipstitching the new piece on with yarn in the same color as your current binding. Your town may have rug hookers, or a hooking guild; if so, you could ask whether they'd be willing to take it on as a volunteer project.

I'm not tremendously crafty, but whipstitching isn't that difficult, as long as you carefully position the needle.
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:36 PM on March 2, 2011

If it's made of synthetic fiber, you can try burning off the edges. I used to do this all the time with nylon boat to keep it from fraying. The burnt end melts into a plastic cap, keeping the end together.

I'd do a test patch with a lighter; if it works well, you can decide how you want to scale up.
posted by phunniemee at 1:40 PM on March 2, 2011

(And if you do decide to go the burning route, do it in a well-ventilated area!)
posted by phunniemee at 1:52 PM on March 2, 2011

Does it really have to be DIY? The carpet store near to us sells remnants cut to size with the edges bound, and the binding costs $1 per linear foot. Maybe it's an option worth exploring?
posted by peagood at 2:42 PM on March 2, 2011

I have fixed the edges of a fraying carpet with duct tape, and it worked perfectly. the trick is to get the tape in a colour that matches the carpet - so you probably want it to be blue. if you are repairing the curved edge, make sure you make little cuts into the tape so it can overlap and lay flat
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 6:31 PM on March 2, 2011

You can run glue along the edges of many fabrics to keep them from fraying, you would want to choose a glue that will stand up to any chemicals used by the janitor (I've only had to deal with machine washing, no idea what would be suitable). Have not tried it on carpet, I'd test on a little carpet scrap (you can get one from a carpet store) first. Put wax paper between the carpet and floor underneath until the glue dries/hardens.

Alternatively, maybe a business doing carpet binding might like to have a flier or other info posted thanking them for donating carpet binding?
posted by yohko at 1:49 AM on March 7, 2011