“I quit my jobs to make rugs – I taught myself to create them by watching YouTube tutorials”

A woman quit her job to make rugs – after teaching herself to create them by watching YouTube tutorials.

Rach Silcock, 22, got creative during lockdown and tried out painting and punch needling before giving tufting ago – a type of textile manufacturing.

She taught herself to make rugs by watching YouTube videos and started selling her rugs in 2022.

Rach was working two jobs as a bartender and in a café but was able to quit them and go full time with her rug business - Tuff Luv - in January 2023.

She makes bespoke rugs such as trainers, a pink tiger and cartoon characters – selling the larger rugs for £350 each.

She makes seven to eight rugs and says it takes eight weeks to make them.

Rach, a rug dealer, from Burnley, Lancashire, said: “I started off with really small ones.

“I was so bad at the beginning.

“I self-taught myself through YouTube.

“It’s great.

“I love working for myself it’s really fun.”

Rach started getting creative when she was put on furlough during the pandemic and tried selling paintings and punch needle art before getting a tufting gun in summer 2021.

Her designs took off after she made a shoe rug for a shop in her town and the video they posted of it went viral.

She said: “They ordered four more.

“That’s why it’s gone into the shoe realm.”

Rach is now fully booked for the summer with orders and makes seven to eight rugs in one go – which takes her six to eight weeks from start to finish.

She finds “therapeutic” and loves seeing her rugs in people’s homes.

Rach has rented a studio since May 2022 and pays herself £800-a-month.

One of her favourite rugs are the rainbow rugs she creates.

She is also hoping to share her wisdom with others and hold tufting workshops in her studio.

Rach said: “My work has an illustrative, playful nature - the rugs are usually bold, fun and vibrant in colour.”