Which Tufting Starter Kit Is Right for You? (2026 UK Guide) | UK Tufting

Four kits. One gun at the heart of every single one.

If you're looking at the options and wondering which one you actually need, this guide is for you. It's a clear breakdown of what's in each kit and who it genuinely suits, so you can pick once and start tufting.

Quick Answer

• Trimmer Starter Kit (£225): gun, trimmer, lined tufting cloth and threaders. No frame. For people who already have a frame or plan to build one

• Pro Starter Kit, 50cm frame (£375): gun, frame, trimmer, lined cloth, backing, scissors and threaders. Everything you need to tuft and finish. Our most popular kit and the one we recommend to most beginners

• Pro Starter Kit, 90cm frame (£395): the same complete kit with a larger frame for bigger rugs

• Studio Tufting Kit (£519): the Pro 90cm kit plus a Trace & Tuft projector and five 600g cones of Loop 8 yarn. The only kit you can start a rug with on the day it arrives

• Every kit includes the AK-V 2-in-1 tufting gun (cut and loop pile) with a UK plug

• Adhesive is not included in any kit. Yarn is included only in the Studio Kit

What Every Kit Includes

The AK-V 2-in-1 Tufting Gun. Our bestselling machine: cut pile and loop pile in one body, UK plug included, beginner-friendly and genuinely versatile. It's the most important part of any kit, and it's the same in all four. Choose Desert Brown or Pink Blossom.

Lined Primary Tufting Cloth (2m x 2m). Every kit comes with our lined tufting cloth. It's printed with thin orange guide lines, so it's easier to stretch the cloth evenly on your frame and keep your design straight.

Trimmer with Shearing Guide. The tool that most visibly upgrades a finished rug. It levels the pile to one consistent height across the whole surface.

Want to know more about the gun itself? Read our full AK-V review.

The Four Kits Compared

Which Kit Should You Buy?

Pro Starter Kit (50cm frame), £375

Buy this if: you're starting from nothing and want everything in one order.

This is the kit most of our customers choose, and the one we recommend if you're not sure. It covers every stage of your first rug: stretching the cloth on the frame, tufting, trimming the pile and backing the finished piece. The trimmer is the tool that most improves how your finished rug looks, and it costs less inside the kit than buying it later.

The 50cm frame is a great size for first rugs, wall hangings, mirror rugs and small to medium pieces, and it fits comfortably in a home studio.

You'll also need: yarn and adhesive (see below).

Best for: most first-time tufters, gift buyers, and anyone who wants to skip a second order.

Pro Starter Kit (90cm frame), £395

Buy this if: you already know you want to make bigger rugs.

Everything in the Pro 50cm kit, with a 90cm frame instead. The larger working area lets you tuft full-size rugs and bigger designs in one go, without re-stretching the cloth. It takes up more space, so make sure you have room for it against a wall or on a sturdy table.

You'll also need: yarn and adhesive.

Best for: makers planning floor rugs, anyone making pieces to sell, and people upgrading from a small frame.

Studio Tufting Kit, £519

Buy this if: you want to open one box and start, with nothing left to order.

The Studio Kit is the Pro 90cm kit with the two things people always end up buying a week later: a Trace & Tuft projector and five 600g cones of Loop 8 yarn.

The projector is the part beginners underestimate. Getting a design onto stretched cloth accurately is one of the fiddliest steps in rug making, and a projector turns an hour of gridding and guesswork into ten minutes of tracing. It is the single thing that makes ambitious designs achievable on a first rug.

The yarn is our starter palette, chosen because these five are our bestsellers and cover almost every beginner design: 001 Asphalt for outlines and lettering, 002 Milk Tooth for backgrounds, 003 Nosebleed for bold accents, 165 Taxi Light for a punchy yellow and 184 Bus Seat Blue for a strong primary blue. That's 3kg of yarn, enough for several rugs.

You'll also need: adhesive only. That's it.

Best for: serious beginners, anyone buying this as a significant gift, and makers who would rather pay once than piece a setup together over three orders.

Trimmer Starter Kit, £225

Buy this if: you already have a frame.

Gun, trimmer, lined cloth and threaders, with no frame included. It's the lowest-cost way into tufting, but it only makes sense if you already own a frame or you're building one yourself.

Honest advice: if you'd need to buy a frame anyway, the Pro 50cm kit works out better value. Adding our 50cm frame (£150) to this kit costs the same as the Pro kit, but without the backing fabric and scissors.

You'll also need: a frame, yarn, adhesive and backing fabric.

Best for: makers with an existing frame, or DIY-minded beginners.

What's Not in Your Kit

Worth being clear about this so there are no surprises:

Budget roughly £50 to £75 on top of a Trimmer or Pro kit for your first rug's yarn and finishing supplies, or about £28 on top of the Studio Kit, which only needs the two adhesives. Orders over £60 ship free across the UK, so it's worth adding everything to the same order as your kit.

One Thing to Know About the Yarn

Loop 8 is a soft, open, super bulky recycled yarn. It tufts beautifully, fills fast and gives you a plush, bouncy pile, which is exactly what you want for flat pile, colour blocking and bold graphic designs.

It is not a carving yarn, and we do not recommend it for carved or sculpted relief. If deep carved work is where you want to end up, plan to source a hard, tightly twisted carving yarn separately for those sections. Our Loop 8 review covers this properly.

Still Not Sure?

The honest default: if you're starting from scratch, get the Pro Starter Kit with the 50cm frame. It covers every step from first tuft to finished rug, and it's the kit our customers choose most often.

If you already know you want to make large floor rugs, go for the 90cm version. If you want the projector and yarn included so nothing is left to order, the Studio Kit is the complete answer. If you already have a frame, the Trimmer Kit gives you everything else you need.

Try Before You Buy

If you're in London, you don't have to decide from photos.

We're the official supply shop of Cheeky Studio in Hackney Wick, where we run tufting workshops using the same guns, frames and cloth we sell. Come to a workshop to try the equipment first, or visit the studio to hold the gun and ask questions before you order.

Shop tufting starter kits at UK Tufting: from £225, fast UK delivery, Click & Collect available Mon to Fri.

Pick your kit. Start your rug.