you can have carpet bound at a carpet store.

I only spent $70 for a 9x12 carpet. It's not worth the expense of binding. I need a DIY method. Thanks.

Hey Swappie!
I wonder if it would work to run a bead of hot glue all around the perimeter on the underside, just in from the edge?
Jane

Hey you! Hot glue -- I didn't think of that. Good idea.

I am starting to be annoyed with myself for not coughing up the extra money for a better quality carpet. This is a lot of work.

You can also get a bottle of fabric glue at somewhere like JoAnn's, I used it to seal the edge of a long hallway runner carpet, worked fine. I have Sobo craft and fabric glue and Liquid Stitch, I don't remember which one of them I used but haven't had any unravelling of the carpet edge in over 2 years.

Ghostly, thanks. I'm happy to know that worked for you and it doesn't sound like it's too much work.

Why oh why do I get myself into these things?? LOL

The carpet store where I bought the remnant that I used for my daughter's dorm room suggested that I use a lighter to slightly singe/melt the raw edge. Worked like a charm and held up to the wear and tear of dorm life for a couple of years.

The only caveat is make sure you keep an eye on it for a while to make sure it is not going to catch on fire.

You're welcome dedtired, I felt the same way after we got the runner, at first I bought carpet binding that's used for latch hook rugs and then realized it and the carpet were took thick to fit in my sewing machine, so I went looking for other, easier options. lol

Another vote for fabric glue. I used Unique Stitch Fabric Glue to seal the edge of a carpet runner that our puppy had chewed. It goes on white but dries clear and doesn't get hard the way hot glue does.

I happened to catch a Martha Stewart show this week and she sued the same product to add decorative trim to pillows.

flip the carpet over and brush white glue (elmers, whatever) on the edge and let it dry,

Oh yippee. I can hardly wait to spend a day on my hands and knees gluing the edge of the carpet. ;)

It does need to be done, I can see that, or I will be cutting off strings forever.

I cut the frayed end off of a vintage runner not too long ago and used hot glue to seal the edges. It seemed to do great for awhile but now I see it unraveling. Perhaps I didn't do it quite right or put enough glue on. It did dry clear though.

I once bound edges with a combination of super glue (to make sure it didn't fray, but this was a few years ago before I noticed there are specific no-fray products), carpet glue, and - crap, drawing a blank. It's stuff you buy at a fabric store next to the piping, and it's basically solid "edging" folded in half. Is it called edging? :)

I have no idea how it holds up to wear, it was basically a gag gift for someone (she spilled Tabasco sauce on our carpet and it left a horrible stain, so when we replaced the carpet we cut out her stain and I gave it to her as a joke gift.)

Wow, that was all terribly helpful.

BTW Lowe's carries bound carpet rugs (Mohawk) for $80. I bought one 9x12 for our home office. And Menard's has 5x7 for $30. That's what I have under my kitchen table, since DD is forever dropping ghastly colored foods on it. BOth have held up wonderfully to heavy traffic. But I wouldn't pay the add-on price to have an existing remnant bound - it easily doubles the price.

This is indoor/outdoor carpet, so my choices were kind of limited. The rug I am replacing is a better quality and I wish I could have found something similar at a decent price.

Do you think they will sell bias tape at Joann's? I wouldn't even know where to loo for a fabric store any more.

So I googled bias tape, and that's definitely what I described, but it's not quite what I used. The bias tape edges are folded under, and what I used was folded in half (I was basically able to glue & press the edging on). I don't know what I bought (apparently) but I remember that I got it at either Hancock or Joann.

Do they make bias tape with more than one type of fold? (I clearly DO NOT sew! :) )

Ideally, before you cut the carpet, paint the area along the cut with nearly any adhesive that will dry clear, and which has a low enough viscosity to self-level and be absorbed into the back of the carpet. Elmer's or other white glue has been used for decades. Special anti-fraying solutions will work nicely.

Then cut.

That will eliminate all fraying. And it is a lot easier to paint the uncut back that along an edge because you don't have to worry about accidentally getting the front dirty.

Binding can be done, after that primarily for appearance but also for high-traffic areas.

This post is from 2012.

The folded under bias tape is called double fold bias tape. The single folded is called single fold bias

Anyone have experience with sealing edges of sisal fabric? Will the Unique Stitch Adhesive do the trick. I designed cat walkway/runners/'shelves' that originally had carpeting. Now, replacing the carpet with sisal that I ordered from a company thru Etsy in Australia. The sisal pieces are cut to size, yet the edges are not sealed and are already fraying...out of the shipping package, before I install them. Thx!!

Same problem

I bought 8' of outdoor carpet runner for my front porch at Rona. The vinyl backing and carpet fibres are both thermo plastic and should be able to be melted repeatedly. I have an old iron in my shop for applying iron on edging I thought would melt the cut ends on my carpet. It could not have worked better. The edges now have a finished look and are melted together which should prevent fraying.