Attractive and beautiful sheepskin rugs are a warm and cozy part of your comfortable home decor during freezing winters. Sheepskin rugs have been in use for ages and have become a part of our rich heritage. These floor coverings are still fashionable owing to their softness, attractive patterns and warmth. Sheepskin rugs are hardwearing and can last very long if special care is taken. The best sheepskin to use to produce rugs is that of mature sheep that has been properly preserved with their wool. Sheep are specially reared and looked to use their skin for different purposes.

Different breeds of sheep have different types of wool on their skin. Sheepskin is found in many natural colours i.e. black, brown, light cream and white. Every sheepskin has different type of wool on it. Some have long and curly wool while others have short and tightly clumped wool on their skin. It’s a hard job for a manufacturer to select a good sheep skin to produce good quality hard-wearing, neatly finished, soft and warm rugs. A young sheep has small but very soft fur on its body. For making rugs, mature sheep skin is considered the best.

Sheep must be properly taken care of to produce desired quality wool. The skin, holding the mature wool is used to make high quality rugs. The skin is then trimmed for the type of rug to be woven to give a better finish. Some chemicals are then used to preserve the hide for long and it is laid on a flat surface to produce even texture. These chemically cleaned sheep skins then become harmless to use in the home environment. The sheep skins are then dried well to make them suitable for use and to be more attractive. In some cases, an inner layer is added to the rugs to make them warmer and more durable. Such a finished rug lasts for years and becomes a lifetime investment for home decor. A good lining could also be added under a rug prevents slipping too.

Some people rear sheep for making their own quality sheepskin rugs and other related sheepskin products. Skins are tanned before turning them into usable products. The rare breed sheep like the Jacob or the Shetland offer the finest fleeces. Mountain and hill breeds have quite heavy fleece thereby producing great quality of sheepskin rugs. They contain brittle whitish hair, but having low quality skins. Because of the diverse quality offered by the wide variety of sheep, most sheepskin rugs producing companies thoroughly check the fleece and skins before being transported to abattoir to make sure that it is the finest quality and that they are in good condition.

Rugs that have been dyed and coloured using artificial colouring should always be dry cleaned by an expert. These should also not be washed using water and brush as is done with a number of other rugs. Natural colour sheep skin rug could be washed at home, but this should be done by the use of some mild detergent in water with a temperature of 100