Is rug tufting an expensive hobby?

It's depending on your budget for this hobby, and it will cost at least 300 USD normally, so you be the judge of tufting is an expensive hobby or not. Here are some metarial cost analysis for your reference.
Metarial:

1,tufting fabrics $9.99+
2,yarn of different colors $15.99+
3,tufting frame $55+ (self-building can save the budget)
4,tufting gun $80+
5,projector $45+
6,backing fabric $9.99+
7,carpet adhesive $25+
8,carpet trimmer $14.99+
9,different types of scissors $25+
10,space (recommend a dedicated space)
11,yarn winder $15+
12,class or teach yourself
13,3 in 1 oil for your gun $4.99+
14,mask anti dust $15.99+
15,finishing twill tape $12.99+
16,backup for other things $50+

Total is $299.95+

This is market price for basic equipment, and it will cost much more if you choose famous brand products or high-class equipments. Bojuzhi Brand tufting fabrics are start form $6.99 and backing fabrics are start form $5.99, which is competitive, please consider Bojuzhi as one of your suppliers, the website is www.bojuzhi.com

A tufting lover 's real experience:

All told, getting a nice pre-built frame, a gun from amazon, fabric, a yarn winder, carpet adhesive and oodles of yarn ran me about $300, all told.

There are other incidentals that you need to be mindful of, like yarn threaders, different types of scissors, 3 in 1 oil for your gun, backing fabric, finishing stuff, and probably some other things that I'm forgetting, but the nice part is that after the purchase of the gun and the purchase (or building) of the frame, almost everything is very cheap - yarn where I live is $5 per very large spool, and even things like scissors are only about $25. Compared with a hobby like Warhammer, where a single set of minis can cost $25 (and you need 10 of them to play) this is a cheap hobby.I think it's a fun hobby, and I've enjoyed it thus far. I'm getting ready to finish my first "finished" rug that I'm pretty happy with. That's taken me about 3 weeks to learn all the stuff.

As an rant, let me say that I am full of doubt about everyone publishing pictures of their "first" rug - I'm 41, have been involved in crafts all my life, and my "first" rug looked horrible. Expecting me to believe that every single person who posts their "first" rug on here a mixture of Picasso and Matt Damon from Good Will Hunting requires an extreme suspension of disbelief on my part. So don't go thinking it will be that easy, it is not. It's not impossible or even terribly hard, but you won't be tufting a reproduction of the Sistine Chapel the first time like some here would like you to believe.

Figuring things out like how to hang the fabric tightly and correctly, how to get the gun feeding well, how to use the gun, what speed to use it at - that all takes time. But for me, that is the fun of it. If a hobby is too simple, I quickly tire of it. This is really cool; when I show it to my friends, they get excited and start talking to me about designs they want to make.

TL;DR - fun hobby, much cheaper than others, does require some space, ignore the apparent savants that make this all seem effortless.

Also, you realize these rugs aren't really practical to *walk* on, right? And if you have pets, it's a big no-no, because getting pee out of one is laborious to say the least. They're kinda like the beautiful antique chair that your parents have in the corner but you can't sit on it because it's not "stable".

Welcome to share your comments!