How Rugs & Carpets are Made

Antique Kilim Carpets 489

Kilim is the Turkish word for weft-faced tapestry, the simplest weaving structure known. It consists of vertical warps combined purely with successive passes of horizontal wefting. If the wefting is compressed vertically with a weavers comb so as to cover the warps entirely, it produces 'weft-faced' tapestry. By manipulating the wefts in different colors, they can be made to produce the design of the kilim. Where changes in color are accomplished by vertically successive rows of diverging wefts around two adjacent warps, this produces small gaps or slits – so-called slit tapestry technique. Alternatively the diverging wefts in different colors may stagger back and forth vertically across two adjacent warps – so-called dovetail tapestry.