7 Useful Tips For Tufting

1. Hold The Tufting Gun Perpendicular

The question of ‘’Why my tufting cloth is ripping?’’ is probably the most asked one on many different platforms. Almost every beginner tufted had challenging times because of this issue in the early days. Even though there can be various reasons to damage cloth, the most common problem I realized is related to the operation of the tufting gun.

The tufting gun can only move in one direction, it is not possible to tuft backward. So the direction and the angle of the gun on the tufting cloth are very important. The tufting gun needs to be placed perfectly perpendicular to the cloth and it should stay at this angle during the tufting process. If the position of the gun becomes angled the moving scissors part of the machine can easily harm the cloth. Creating a hole in the middle of your tufting cloth is not the end of the world however it just makes the whole situation miserable. You can fix the ripped part of the fabric and continue creating your rug. 

2. Keep The Pressure Same

In order to get yarn stuck to the tufting cloth, it is necessary to apply a good amount of pressure through the gun. Without a proper level of pressure applied you can face similar problems that we discussed in the first tip. The tufting cloth has to be stretched perfectly on the frame to be able to handle this force otherwise, it will bend and move a lot and make tufting so much harder. 

It is important to keep the applied pressure the same throughout the whole tufting action in order to have consistent lines on the cloth. If there is a huge difference between the forces this can lead to creating different densities in different parts of the rug. But there is a more problematic situation regarding the amount of pressure that is getting yarn stuck to the cloth. If you do not apply enough pressure, the yarn will not perfectly stay in its position. 

3. Don’t Pull The Trigger Continuously

When you first read the title, this can sound weird. However, it is one of the most useful tricks I discovered about the operation of the tufting gun. When I was using the gun for the first time, it just felt like I need to pull the trigger continuously and should not stop in the middle of a line. It should go all the way from beginning to end. But this is not the case. If you try to create all the lines in one single movement it is quite hard to do it precisely. Especially if the design involves areas with small details or curved parts it is even harder. 

Because of this reason, it helps a lot to create a sequence for yourself something like ‘’one-second on and half-second off’’. You can see this in the video down below.

4. Always Turn Off The Gun

The tufting can look scary at first look because of the tufting gun, huge frame with nails sticking out and other sharp tools involve in the process. That can be fairly true but like all the other things you have to be careful about these tools. As long as you pay attention to what you are doing and follow very minor but important actions, I can guarantee that it will be all good without any problem. 

The most important action is turning off the tufting gun each time you take it out from the cloth. It should/will turn into a habit after a short time and your hand going to turn it off automatically. During the tufting many times you will need to stop and continue again and in this period if you leave the gun turned on it can create damage in many different ways. 

However, overall I do not think tufting is dangerous as long as you took the necessary steps. You can find more information about this topic in Is tufting gun dangerous? You should be careful about these.

5. Put Two Pieces Of Yarn Together Instead Of One

Most of the available yarns in the market have thicknesses of approximately 2mm. However, it is possible for a tufting gun (AK-1)  to handle yarns between 3-5mm thickness. If you try to tuft with one single piece of yarn, it is still possible but it will take a longer time to finish a rug because you need to do as twice as much work compared to the recommended method. You can place double yarns on the needle and work with two different yarn coils at once. This method is highly popular among the tufters and it makes the whole process faster & easier. 

6. Make Sure The Cloth Is Fully Stretched

Having a perfectly stretched tufting cloth is essential for tufting. Without this single, simple step the whole thing can turn into torture in a matter of seconds. Pay attention to the quality of the fabric, using high quality, durable cloth is very important. In the case of poor quality clothes, it is very likely to have problems. Because even if you stretched it perfectly to your frame when you are starting a new rug, afterwhile it will loosen up and will start to move due to the pressure of the tufting gun.

7. Don’t Be Afraid To Improvise Materials

It is not always so easy to find all the materials you need for tufting. This can be very different depending on your location and available local sources. However, this changed after tufting become so popular lately but even now sometimes it can challenging for some particular cases. Do not let this become a reason to stop creating, try to improvise with the available materials. There are no certain rules for all the necessary materials, you can experiment with different alternatives and see what works and what does not. If you discover a creative material or method to use do not forget to share it with others in the community.