Why Tufting Is So Popular?

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 creates 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 line of yarn and cuts the yarn after each movement through the cloth. These small pieces of yarn are put together to create the rug. 

If you ever heard of punch needle, the tufting is operating 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?

Everyone Making Rugs

If you enter any of the hashtags related to tufting on any social media application it can seem like literally everyone is making rugs. Before 2020 when tufting was not an online trend I do not remember seeing any video related to rug making. However, this movement made tufting so popular, especially among young people.

Even watching other people tufting is super satisfying and fun to watch, it is not surprising to see tufting TikTok videos with billions of views. After consuming this type of content online, a lot of people would like to try tufting. It does not require a lot of tools to start tufting, after you purchase a tufting gun, tufting cloth, and some yarn you are ready to tuft your own custom rug. Of course, in addition to these materials, it is necessary to have a frame which you can fix your tufting cloth but it can be easily built at home. Check How Can I Build My Tufting Frame? to learn more about it. You can collect all the materials from local suppliers except the tufting gun. It is still only available in online shops. You can check our Tool Sets page to see recommended products and brands for each necessary material for tufting.

It is not essential to have any special skills or education, after watching a couple of videos online and testing a few rug pieces yourself, there is a high chance that you will be ready to create high-quality rugs. As a bonus, if you are good at design and drawing, it would make producing and expressing your creativity much easier.

Is There Money In Tufting?

During the lockdown when a lot of people lost their jobs and they started to seek new opportunities to create new sources of income for their budget. And for the people who were interesting in tufting, this was a light-bulb moment. Suddenly this unique craft turned into a business. People started to create rugs with unique and custom designs. Most of these sellers created online stores or Instagram accounts to reach their customers. While they keep posting and sharing the new designs and rugs the tufting became more and more popular with every post. Tufting requires a very small amount of initial investment cost, the overall necessary materials do not cost approximately more than 500$. And this fact makes it even easier to start a tufting business.

Some tufters took a different approach in order to turn this interest into a business. The number of YouTube channels, and TikTok accounts that post videos about tufting increased rapidly. Instead of selling the rugs, these creators decided to share their experiences, tricks, and tips with other people online while creating a new source of income. There are many different ways to gain revenue from tufting like other different interests. It is possible to see successful examples for each of these methods, most people choose to combine at least a few of them to increase their chances. You can explore some of these approaches in 6 Ways To Earn Money With Tufting.