Tuff Luv rugs unique designs by Burnley seamstress

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, from Burnley, 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, featuring designs such as trainers, a pink tiger and cartoon characters – selling the larger rugs for £350 each.

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

Rach, jokingly described as a rug dealer, said: “I started off with really small ones, but 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 with some of her trainer designs (Image: SWNS)

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.”

A Taz the Tasmanian devil rug (Image: SWNS)

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 by holding tufting workshops in her studio.

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