How do I transfer my design to tufting cloth?

October 03, 2026

Getting your design from paper (or screen) onto your tufting cloth is one of the first steps in every project. There are a few ways to do it, depending on your setup and how complex your design is.

Draw on the back of the cloth

Once your cloth is stretched tightly on the frame, draw or transfer your design onto the back of the cloth. This is the side facing you while you tuft. The tufting machine works from behind and the tufts come out the front, so your design guide goes on the back. The front, or pile side, faces away from you, toward the frame.

Because of this, the finished front will be a mirror image of what you draw. For text or other asymmetric or directional designs, such as faces and logos, flip your image before you transfer it.

Plan your design first

• Keep it simple to start. For your first piece, use big blocks of color and large shapes. Large color blocks are much easier to fill in evenly than intricate line art. Small shapes and fine details are very hard to get right with a tufting machine until you have some experience. As your technique improves, you can take on more detail.
• Match the detail to the rug size. Before you commit to a design, think about how big the finished rug will be. Tufted yarn has a minimum practical detail size. On small pieces, such as a 14" × 14" mini rug, fine lines, small lettering and tiny features get lost and won't look good. Simplify the design or make the rug larger so every important detail has room. Browsing finished rugs, like the ones on our Instagram, is a good way to see how much detail realistically works at a given size.
• Scale your design to the tufting area, not the full cloth. Leave a few inches of margin on all sides so you can secure the cloth to the frame tacks.
• Borders are up to you. Whether you leave a border around your image is a design choice.
• Use designs you have the right to use. Only tuft designs that are your own or that you have the artist's permission to use.
• Estimate your yarn. Upload your design image to our free yarn calculator at priceyourcraft.com to estimate how much yarn you'll need in each color.

Ways to transfer your design

Here are the most common methods, from simplest to most advanced.

Method 1: Draw freehand

This is the simplest approach and works well for bold, simple shapes and organic designs. Draw your design directly on the back of the stretched cloth using one of these:

• a permanent marker
• an acrylic paint pen
• a chalk pencil

The grid of the tufting cloth makes it fairly easy to keep lines straight or to divide the surface into sections.

Method 2: Trace a printed design

If you don't love drawing freehand, this is the easiest way to get ready. It works best for designs with clean, bold lines.

1. Print your design at the actual finished size, for example 14" × 14".
2. Tape the printout to a bright window, light table or lightbox.
3. Tape your tufting cloth on top of the printout.
4. Trace the design through the cloth with a marker.

Our Primary White Tufting Cloth is light enough to see through for this method.

Method 3: Use a projector (most popular)

This has become the go-to method for most serious tufters. It works for any size of design, lets you resize easily and leaves your hands free for tracing. You can adjust the size and orientation in real time. It's especially useful for complex imagery, portraits and organic shapes.

Any of these can work as a projector: a phone projector, a phone with a projector attachment, a laptop projector or a ceiling projector.

1. Set up your frame with the cloth mounted.
2. Dim the lights.
3. Project your digital design onto the cloth.
4. Trace the outline with a marker.

Method 4: Pounce (transfer) method

This is a traditional method, but it's effective for complex shapes.

1. Print your design.
2. Poke holes along all the lines with a pin or pounce wheel.
3. Press chalk or charcoal through the holes onto the cloth.

This leaves a dotted line for you to follow.

Method 5: Chalk or water-soluble markers

Use tailor's chalk or a water-soluble fabric marker if you want either of these:

• lines that won't show in the finished piece
• lines you can adjust

These wash out with water. Apply your adhesive and backing only after any washing.

Planning your colors

Tuft one color section at a time for the cleanest results. Plan your color changes at natural boundary lines in your design. Cut pile gives very crisp, hard edges between colors. Loop pile gives slightly softer color transitions.

Resources

• Quick Start Video: includes a demonstration of getting started on cloth
• SOFaT Online Course: our comprehensive online tufting workshop
• In-person workshops in Philadelphia: learn hands-on with our instructors

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