When YouTubers start Tufting!

Tufting has seen a resurgence in interest in recent years thanks to viral videos on social media and its ability to inspire creativity. It's only natural, then, that tufting has been embraced by a new generation of curious creators and videographers with a passion for art and creation.

Attracting the attention of craft enthusiasts from all over the world, we have made a selection of introductory tufting videos from YouTubers, some more well-known than others, French or not, but who all have one thing in common: they were confronted with tufting for the first time during the videos we are about to share with you.

This is how you will see them confronted, often poorly informed, with their first mistakes, how they corrected them to end up adopting the right actions and finally end up with successful tufted carpets (the results are sometimes impressive!).

We therefore invite you to watch these informative videos accompanied by our analysis at the end of the article.

• Joyca

  Our national Joyca, famous member of the former LOAT, has often been passionate about creation during his videos, so it was only natural that he ended up trying tufting. In his video, he sets himself the challenge of making 3 rugs, each one larger than the other. After a rather disastrous start where he started tufting horizontally, he ended up tackling a large-scale project by making Dwayne Johnson's rug with the aim of offering the latter the rug.

• Raven

  By dint of watching tufting videos on social media, Raven finally gave in and made his first Stitch-shaped rug. It's clear that the YouTuber trained himself by watching videos on the internet, which leads to mistakes in the steps that are not necessarily documented by the rug creators in their videos (see end of article).

• Valerie Dewilde

  DIY enthusiast Valérie Dewilde couldn't miss out on tufting. She tells us about her journey and shares her mistakes.

• Flub

  Flub set himself the challenge of making a rug, but the lack of information and training led him to make some sometimes... strange choices (see wallpaper paste!). Nevertheless, he was satisfied with his result, and you'll find some of his mistakes at the end of the article.

• Evenora Re.Lève Studio

  Evenora shares her feedback after making her first rug. It is undoubtedly, and despite herself, the video containing the most information for beginners. Indeed, she makes many mistakes, many of which were not noted by the YouTuber, but also gives a lot of good advice for beginners, such as starting with a small first rug.

• Manguefrerot

  This is undoubtedly the video with the fewest errors: the YouTuber chose to be accompanied in its production by a workshop, necessarily limiting the number of errors thanks to the experience of the trainer and the result is very clean!

After these minutes of viewing, it's time to move on to analysis! Whether during the production or after, you must always analyze what you have done in order to see how to repair your mistakes and see how to optimize the quality of your productions, but also your production time. Of course, all these YouTubers were on their first try, so it's normal that they made mistakes, we all have and if you too start tufting, believe us: you will!

This is therefore the opportunity to share our analysis with the points of particular attention to bring when you begin in order not to repeat the errors of your favorite videographers:

• The frame : your frame or stretcher must be of good quality and as stable as possible. Lack of stability will cause you to make holes when you use the tufting gun and if it is of poor quality and breaks during the process, you will unfortunately be able to throw away your unfinished creation. It is extremely important to tuft at your height with the frame vertical. If you do it with the frame leaning against a wall, you risk hurting your back after a while. The best thing is to have a frame at eye height, no higher than your arm in the air so that all areas of the canvas are accessible. See our different tufting frames .
• The canvas : some people have not used monk's cloth or tufting cloth and have instead used whatever they can find, often hessian. We do not recommend using hessian because even if it works, like some other fabrics not made for it, hessian is however more fragile and more likely to get holes when using the tufting gun. We recommend instead using dedicated tufting fabric, namely monk's cloth or tufting cloth. See our tufting cloth or monk's cloth .
• Canvas tension : This is a common problem and few people notice it, but remember to stretch your canvas as tight as possible. Use as much force as you can; you can also use tools. Remember to use the lines at your disposal to check that the canvas is straight and taut. Also, if you're making a large creation that will take several days of tufting, don't hesitate to re-tighten the canvas every day before starting.
• Wind your balls carefully : you must always watch the threads you are winding and preferably hold them at a height higher than the spool to ensure that they do not get tangled in the mechanism because once tangled, good luck dislodging them, you will need to be armed with patience. See our thread winders .
• Analyze the pattern : Not all colors exist in wool. Therefore, you must be very careful when choosing a pattern to validate the colors to use, especially if there are gradients. Also, if you are a beginner, do not attempt overly complicated patterns like round rugs or those with rounded shapes: this is really not the ideal way to start and get to grips with the tufting gun.
• Outlining Shapes : Always outline a shape before filling it. Knowing exactly where and how to finish tufting will help you fill it, otherwise you'll end up with irregular shapes.
• Making the rug: remember to press your tufting gun as hard as possible on the canvas by pushing as far as possible and release the trigger before removing the tufting gun from the canvas to ensure a good grip of the thread(s) in the canvas. To make your lines, we advise you to go vertically for small areas or shapes, and vertically for larger areas of color to fill. Only make roundings to make the outlines of a shape to fill or that of your creation. The gap between your lines must always be the same, otherwise you will make holes that will let the back of the rug appear once it is placed on the floor. Regarding the wool, we advise you to put 2 3.5 threads previously wound in the tufting. You can of course use only one but only if it is thick enough to fit in the tufting gun, or 3 or more if the threads are thinner. When creating the pattern itself, we recommend that you first make the shapes that are the "inner" of the rug, then move further and further outwards, ending with the outlines. See our tufting guns .
• Finishing touches : undoubtedly the most neglected part of the creation by videographers. Mats without fabrics at the back, no shape trimming, shearing without a guide, glue on the detached canvas... We know that tufting is the most satisfying part, but the finishing touches are the part that will truly make your creation unique. First of all, don't hesitate to trim the shapes once you've finished tufting a shape. Yes, you read that right. This means that you'll have to go back and forth to the front and back of your frame along the length of the creation to get a clean and therefore optimal result. In addition, this will avoid mixing the threads and you'll save time rather than spending time with tweezers! Regarding the glue, we recommend placing it on the frame so that the mat doesn't loosen during drying. You can remove it once the 8 hours of drying have passed. You must of course use carpet glue for the back of the carpet, which you can find in any DIY store (not wallpaper glue...), and we recommend using a hot glue gun for the edges. Cover the back of your carpet with a non-slip tufting fabric, which, in addition to its aesthetics, will prevent your carpet from slipping when it is walked on. The trimmer has a dual purpose: both trimming the carpet (thickness and contours), but also trimming the shapes to give them relief. The trimming stage is long and very tedious and lasts at least as long as using the tufting gun. See our accessories for tufting finishing .

There you have it, we've covered the bad habits we've noticed and shown you the good ones to remember. Don't forget that creating a tufted rug isn't just about using a tufting gun: it's an activity that requires a lot of patience, attention, and rigor in order to create a perfect, even, and well-cut piece. This is what determines the final value of your rug: the number of hours you've spent making it perfect!

And you, have you noticed other gestures to optimize in these videos? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!