DIY Rainbow Punch Needle

The punch rug craze has taken over and by the looks of things isn’t going anywhere fast. With good reason really. It’s such an easy and fun craft. The results are beautiful and you can make a simple wall hanging like this in about an hour. Yes, even if you are a beginner!

I love trying new techniques but sometimes it can be expensive (and take a lot of Googling) to find supplies and instructions. It took me days to learn about punch needling (this was two years ago now) before it became more popular. And the only needles (and fabric) I could find were quite expensive and needed to be imported! My biggest goal selling kits was always to make new crafts accessible (and beautiful) so I spent more time researching how I could make this an affordable option for someone just starting out.

Now just a note for if you don’t know the history of We Make Collective. I started off as a (two) monthly craft kit subscription. As we speak there are quite a few contemporary craft kits on the market but at the time it was difficult to find supplies and instructions for modern creative ideas all in one place. People wanted to be creative and make something beautiful at the same time. That became clear when at our peak I was sending out hundreds of kits at a time and had a team of five amazing bloggers writing tutorials for each kit! Sadly, when I became pregnant I had to end the subscription as I just couldn’t keep up, but I really wanted to continue to sell some kits over on wemakecollective.com.

I am a little bit sad we didn’t get the chance to create a punch rug kit during that time, so while I already sell a beginners punch rug kit I’m going to add some additional projects and kits to the collection! Starting with this rainbow wall hanging!

I’ve created a video to show you exactly how to make the rainbow and if you read on below I’ve left a more detailed tutorial to get you off to a flying start!

1. Place the fabric in the embroidery hoop. Tighten the hoop as much as possible.

2. Draw your design onto the fabric. Work on the top side of the hoop.

3. Thread the needle using the wire needle – thread the yarn through the loop in the wire. Push the wire up through the round end of the punch rug needle towards the needle like end. Then thread it through the hole in the needle end and remove the wire to start punching.

4. Push the needle through the fabric. Pull the tail all the way out to the back side of the fabric.

5. Holding onto this tail bring the needle back out – keeping the tip close to the surface of the fabric. Move the needle along by around half a centimetre. You need to keep the hole in the needle facing the first hole you punched in the fabric. The yarn should be straight, not wrapped around the needle.

6. Punch the needle into the fabric again. Ensure you push it all the way to the handle and slowly pull it out again. Repeat steps 5 & 6 covering the area of the fabric. You shouldn’t need to hold onto the loops you are making on the back of the fabric.

7. To finish the yarn and begin with another, push the needle through the fabric, turn the fabric over and cut the yarn at the needle point before pulling the needle back out. The ends of the yarn can be trimmed to the length of the pile.