How To Open A Tufting Workshop? EVERYTHING YOU NEED

December 10, 2022

Business, Tufting

No Comments

Tufting and making your own rug became super popular in 2020, and after it became popular, lots of people wanted to try it. Because it just looks fun!

Tufting is not super hard to do, but it has a higher barrier of entry compared to most other hobbies and crafts. It can be harder to make the commitment and purchase all the necessary tools to be able to experience tufting. That’s why it is natural that people want to try it first to make sure they enjoy tufting and having fun with rug creation and the design process.

The easiest way to try tufting is via Tufting Workshops. The number of tufting workshops’ and their popularity is increased rapidly in the last few years. You can find a tufting workshop event in most of the larger cities worldwide.

With increasing popularity, the attention and number of interested people are rising too. How can you turn this into an advantage for yourself as a tufter?

Tufting workshops are great opportunities for experienced tufters and entrepreneurs. To open a tufting studio:

You need to buy multiple numbers of materials like; a tufting gun, tufting frame, rug shaver, and lots of tufting cloths, yarns, and backing material.
Learn your target audience
Find a suitable location for the tufting studio.
Create your platform and start marketing
Make sure about any legal registration issues.

These are the main steps to start preparing your workshop; now, let’s talk about them in-depth because nothing is as easy and straightforward as it seems.

What is tufting?

Tufting is simply a method of manufacturing rugs. It was originally invented in Georgia; a gun-like, manually operated tool was used to create carpets. This tool makes lines of patterns on a special kind of textile and lets yarn stick to the fabric. The tufting gun operates through the tufting cloth with a string of yarn and cuts the thread after each movement through the fabric. These small pieces of wool are put together to create the rug.

If you have ever heard of punch needle, the tufting operates with a similar logic. The only difference is in the case of a punch needle; it is necessary to do it by hand and insert the needle through the holes of the cloth one by one. As you can imagine, this takes a long time to create compared to a tufting gun which operates with an electronic motor. You can learn more about the difference between them in Tufting vs. Punch Needle, Are They The Same Thing?

Tufting Workshops

Tufting workshops are, on average, 4-5 hour long events where the participants learn about tufting in general, how the tufting gun operates, and what the techniques are to create a rug with tufting. After the introduction parts, all the attendees are provided with a tufting frame, a tufting gun, primary tufting cloth, and a comprehensive yarn collection.

So people can design their rugs however they wish and start practicing their tufting skills. Probably this is the most exciting part; they finish their carpets, now they can apply the backing glue on it, cover the back part of it, and ta-da, it is done. Let’s say almost done. They can clean them a bit, shave the edges and try to equalize the yarn heights in different parts.

The number of participants may vary between different workshops. However, usually, they provide events suitable for 3 to 8 people. But you can request a private event too.

A tufting class is a great event for a birthday, bachelorette, or Christmas parties. Also can be perfect for companies as a team-building activity.

You can gift a ticket for the tufting workshop to your friends, too. It can be a great gift if they are interested in crafts, building things DIY, or design in general. Even if they are not interested (yet), it is an excellent opportunity to experience new activities and try something new. You can think as instead of ordering a custom rug for that person; you can invite them to build it together and enrich it with memories.

How to start your tufting workshop?

If you are considering opening a tufting workshop studio, initially, there are a few main aspects to think about. It is better to keep these questions in mind and answer them before you do anything else. It is totally fine if you can not answer these questions now; in that case, try to search for the answers first so you can reinforce your plan.

Decide WHY

Determine why you want to open a tufting studio. Do you want to teach people how to tuft? Do you love the tufting and spend more time around it? Or is it solely for income? Of course, it is totally okay and good to think about the business perspective, too, but it is better not to make it the only focus point. If you focus on the value it will provide to the people and think about the long term; all the other aspects will follow that.

Decide WHO

Think about who will be your audience and customer. Since the workshop will be a location-based activity, it is essential to know the local people’s profiles and interests. If you are located in a big city, you do not need to worry about not having enough customers. However, if you live in a relatively smaller city, you may want to check and ensure there are enough people in your area who you can turn into customers.

You can check this directly by talking to people in your area and asking if they would be interested in something like this. But it may consume a lot of time, and the results probably won’t be so accurate. Because saying that, ‘’I am interested’’ and actually purchasing it are totally different things.

That’s why you can use tools like Google Trends to estimate the level of interest. It is super easy to use; you only need to type the topic you want to check and specify a location and the date range.

You can choose the worldwide option to see the overall interest in tufting. But since you need location-based information, being able to target specific locations is super important.

It is possible to enter a couple of different topics or search terms and compare them too.

But even though it is a fantastic tool to have some idea about the popularity of a topic, don’t forget that it is not always so accurate.

Check Your Inventory

Since you already purchased all of them to start tufting yourself, you probably know where you can find the needed materials. Decide on the capacity you want to provide in the workshops; what would be the maximum number of attendees? Because everyone will need a tufting frame and a tufting gun. Other tools are not super important because you will probably have lots of tufting cloth and yarn.

Create a list of items you need. Make sure you include everything. Once you have the lists, check for the suppliers and where you can purchase them. Ask for a special price; if you are buying 8 tufting guns together, you can and should ask for a discount. And they would be happy to do that if you buy multiple items together at once. You can check Recommended Tool Sets to find out what you need exactly and where you can buy them.

Find The Location

Okay, so far, you have decided on your vision for the workshop, ensured that there are enough potential customers in your area, and managed to collect all the tools you need. Now you need to find a suitable location for these events. If you already have a suitable space, that’s great, but if not, let’s talk about your options.

If you are considering opening a tufting workshop as a side project, renting a space dedicated to this might be challenging, especially if you are working with a limited budget.

In this case, you can consider event spaces that you can rent for a short time. You can use these spaces to host your workshop without any significant commitments. It can be a lifesaver option in the beginning, but, of course, not having a settled space has its downsides too.

You need to carry all materials each time in and out of the event space. You will probably not be able to bring the bigger frames as mounted one piece, so you have to set them up each time.

You can search for rentable event spaces on the platforms like peerspace.com.

Other alternatives to consider might be the local art/craft or coffee shops’ event rooms. Check your area and see if there are any options for you.

Think About Your Marketing Strategy

You have found your place too, great! Now how do you find your customers? Create your social media accounts and start posting there regularly. Most probably, you have made many rugs up to this point; start with sharing them. Don’t forget to tag the location on them, so people in your area can see them.

You can consider posting ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Google. If you have created your Instagram account, that would be easier for you to manage at the beginning. Don’t hesitate to test different methods. You can use paid advertisements to gain some boost initially. After the first couple of events, you will have much more material to share online, so your account’s credibility will rise.

Also, if your former customers were happy with the experience, they will probably recommend it to their friends and family. In this kind of local business, word of mouth can have a considerable impact. Just because it is not possible to have analytics about them, like social ads, it doesn’t mean that they are worthless.

Setup The Platform

You need to have a platform to manage booking and payments. You can choose to sell tickets offline, too, but you will miss lots of opportunities if you don’t establish an online presence.

It is super easy to create a website for making yourself findable and accepting bookings. You can use many different platforms to have one. The most popular ones;

Squarespace
Wix
WordPress

In the options like Squarespace and Wix, it is way easier to set up everything and publish your site quickly in a couple of hours. They have hundreds of ready-to-use templates. All you need to do is get a domain name, upload your logo and images, fill out your information and available time for the workshops, and it is ready to use!

The only downside I can mention for these platforms is the cost can be higher than using WordPress, and they don’t provide as many customizability options as WordPress.

In the case of WordPress, it has a similar process for setting everything up. But it can take longer to finish everything if you don’t have any experience before.

If you are a complete beginner in this area and just want to get it done quickly, go with Squarespace or Wix.

Is the tufting workshop business profitable?

Yes, hosting tufting workshops are profitable. You can earn money with the tufting events. There is an initial investment cost to be able to start hosting tufting workshops but once you collect all the tools, maintaining cost is relatively low.

The main tools that increase the starting cost are the tufting guns, frames, and the collection of yarns, in addition to the event place if you rent a dedicated space for the events. If you choose to use short time rentable space, it will reduce your investment amount dramatically.

The cost per event is pretty low. You only need to use a single piece of tufting cloth, yarn, and backing materials. The amount of yarn needed will change depending on the frame size. Most of the workshops provide around 70cm x 70cm (28in x 28in) frame size, so the necessary yarn is not a huge amount.

Tufting workshop fees

Tufting workshop fees vary between 150$ and 300$. There can be huge differences between different countries, regions, and cities. If it is a city with relatively high living costs, the fees will be more or less according to that.

It also depends on the number of participants. Some of the workshops can offer special events for smaller or larger groups of people or private lessons for 1-2 people. In this case, you may expect more of a premium price.

To have an initial idea to determine your fees, check the tufting workshops in your area, and see how much they are charging. If there are no tufting workshops, try to find any similar craft/art events so you compare yourself with them.

But you don’t have to follow them blindly. If you think that you add more value and create a better experience with people, consider that in your price list too.

It is possible to create a good income source with tufting workshops. It is a fun and fulfilling experience to add value to people’s lives and teach them something. If you like tufting, it is an excellent opportunity for a side project. But it is not the only way to create a profitable business with tufting. See other forms of learning money with tufting in 6 Ways To Earn Money With Tufting.

*_{Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.}

PRV POST

NXT POST