Cotton Binding

   When DWP Carpet Binding started up in 2004, one of the products we offered was cotton binding. Though the volume was low, a handful of jobs requested the product. With several attempts ultimately being failures for multiple reasons, we decided that we wouldn't offer cotton binding anymore. The major component of this decision was that we would waste more material and time than the job was worth. The cotton binding frequently sewed on with wrinkles in the material, which ruined the aesthetics of both the carpet and the binding. Whether we ran a 12 ft. side once or five times, we were only going to get paid for it once. Having less than desirable results, we opted to eliminate cotton binding as an option.

   Well, recently a woman came in with two Stark carpets. She had her mind set on cotton binding. Dan showed her a sample of our cotton serging as an option, but she wasn't a fan for serging. She said she "could have lived with it" if there was nice fringe on both ends. Dan explained to her that with past attempts the cotton binding rarely ever worked out. They also went over the option of the sisal/wide-border binding. She felt that it was too informal for her pieces. She associated the wide binding with outdoor sisal carpets and didn't want to ruin the overall style of her pieces with something which may be presented as informal. What she left with was 3 options:

1. Have us cut the carpets to size, then ship them to another binding shop that offers cotton binding.
2. Serge the carpets.
3. Use sisal/wide-border binding.

She said she would think about it over night and get back to us the following day. It was clear that she was disappointed in hearing that we didn't offer cotton binding. One of Dan's famous lines is, "You can be a part of the problem, or you can be a part of the solution. I prefer to be a part of the solution." So, he started thinking about how to be a part of the solution. He went through some of the extra miscellaneous spare parts we have for our table model binding machines. In doing so, he found a couple of random folders (this is the part where the binding is fed through, prior to being stitched). These folders looked different than ours, which set a light bulb off in his head. Maybe these folders are meant for cotton binding versus polyester binding? 

   Dan put them to the test. He set up one of our table models with one of the folders and began running cotton binding onto scrap carpet. After finagling for a chunk of time, he was finally able to get the right setting so that the cotton binding stitched flawlessly! (Eureka!)

He called the customer and let her know that he was going to attempt to bind her rugs with the cotton binding she chose. There wasn't one problem in the process. The end result? Check out the picture below:

Cotton Binding application
(Of course I remember to take a picture AFTER the carpet is wrapped. Tsk. Tsk.)

  The customer was in today and she was beyond thrilled about the results. She absolutely loved it saying, "How rare that the producer and the buyer of something both end up happy with the result."

  Not only are we happy with the result, but we're ecstatic to offer another product for people's binding needs. We no longer have to worry about wasting material and time, nor worry about whether or not we can get the desired result. Dan often says, "You have to have the right tool for the job." Finding the cotton binding folder for our machine allowed for us to have the right tool for the job ... now and for future cotton binding jobs!

  DWP Carpet Binding is ending its work week on a delightful level. We made a customer happy and solved an ongoing obstacle in the process.

Side story: In the past a customer referred to Dan as "Pad-a-Genius", since his last name is Padegimas. He'll use that nickname from time to time when making phone calls. Well, in this case it's a well deserved nickname. His genius came through to help solve a problem and finish a task at hand.

Thank you to all of our customers!

Have a great weekend!