The Best Tufting Cloths: Primary Cloth vs Monks Cloth vs Burlap

January 12, 2022

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What cloth is best for tufting?

For creating your custom tufting rug one of the most important materials is the Tufting Cloth. It plays a crucial role in the rug tufting process because if you choose the wrong backing cloth, things can get ugly quite easily during the creation progress.

There are three main options for backing fabrics:

Primary Backing Cloth: The Best Quality
Monks Cloth: Easy to Acces
Burlap: The Best Price

According to my consideration Burlap has the highest points because of the quality/price criteria.

The comparison was made between different fabric types in the criteria such as:

Quality
Price
Accessibility

You can see the comparison table down below with the points in each category.

Table Of Contents

What cloth is best for tufting?
Quality
Price
Accessibility
Final Points

Quality

If we compare the quality of different backing fabrics it is easy to say Primary Backing Fabric is the best option. The Primary Tufting cloth is made of 35% cotton and 65% polyester with an elastic texture. So it is possible to stretch it onto the tufting frame properly for tufting your rug.

The yellow stripes in the Primary Tufting Fabric help with the alignment of the cloth to the frame vertically. If the placement of the cloth is angled in the frame, it can be more difficult to control the tufting gun on it. The stretching is the far most important step in the tufting process because if the cloth is not stretched enough there is a high chance that it can be ripped by the tufting gun.

All three different tufting clothes are suitable to use with Tufting Gun and Punching Needle. In the case of tufting with the Tufting Gun it is possible to use 2-5mm thick yarn and for the punching needle 3-5mm. Thicker than 5mm yarn can damage the fabric.

In the case of the Monks Cloth, this issue may occur during the process. In my experience, due to the loss of tension in the tufting process, it becomes looser, you may need to adjust it and stretch it to your frame again. This can affect the design placed on the cloth, it is better to bear in mind. In the Monks Cloth working with the cross or curvy lines is not as smooth as the Primary Backing and Burlap.

And the last option Burlap is my favorite option to go. At first look, it seems like it is not that high quality but it can surprise you, like me. The Jute Burlap is highly durable so it is less likely to damage it and it is the winner of our comparison because of its amazing price/quality.

Price

The Primary Backing Fabric has the highest price tag with approximately 30$ per meter compared to Monks Cloth (15$) and Burlap (∼5$). Of course, it can change depending on your location and the amount but there is a noticeable price difference between the clothes.

Accessibility

In the last couple of years, The Primary Cloth become more popular with the increasing interest in tufting. However, still, it is not possible to purchase it in the local stores for most people. The only option is online orders from websites like Tufting Shop, Tuft The World, Etsy, and AliExpress. If you need it regularly, it is advised to purchase it in larger amounts in order not to wait for the shipping of the cloth.

All three options can be purchased in different sizes for different scales of projects. The most popular unit sizes are:

1m x 1m
1m x 1.5m
1m x 2m
1m x 4m
1.5m x 1.5 m
1.5m x 2m

When creating the initial tufting frame the available sizes of the clothes are an important aspect to consider. If the tufting frame is of unusual dimensions it can be harder to find proper size clothes for it and it is easy to waste some parts of the cloth because of the frame. However, it is possible to contact the sellers for a custom-size cloth.

The Monks Cloth and Burlap can be easily found in both local stores and online without any difficulties.

Final Points

	Primary Tufting Cloth	Monks Cloth	Burlap
Quality	5	3	4
Price	2	4	5
Accessiblity	2	5	4
(Points out of 5) Sum	9	12	13

According to the given points, Burlap is the winner.

All of the options have advantages and disadvantages, it is better to think about the priorities of the project before purchasing cloth. Of course, you should choose the material that you are most comfortable with. The price and the available purchasing options can be changed in the future.

*_{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.}