Easy Button Tufting Tutorial — With Tips

Button tufting is a classic upholstery technique that involves attaching buttons through fabric and foam to create a puckered effect. The buttons are threaded through the fabric and foam — and sometimes a backer board or wooden furniture frame — and cinched tightly to create the famous puckered look. The buttons are then secured in place where the fabric indents. This beautiful upholstery technique adds a high-end, expensive look to sofas, bench seats, armchairs and headboards. 

But did you know that with a few tools and supplies it’s easy to create this puckered effect? In today’s Tips & Tricks tutorial, we’ll show you how to create an iconic and popular diamond pattern upholstered piece with button tufting. 

We chose a chenille Crypton® Home fabric for our button tufting sample piece. This buttery soft chenille upholstery fabric — paired with our diamond tufting technique — will add a luxe look to your indoor spaces. You can use leather, vinyl and woven upholstery fabrics. 

We’re using the Sailrite® HandyPress® to create our fabric-covered buttons. This table-mounted hand press is the ultimate hardware and fastener installation tool. In addition to creating fabric-covered buttons, it installs grommets, rivets, Twist-Lock fasteners, snap fasteners and more. If you do a lot of upholstery work, canvaswork or bag making, adding the HandyPress to your workroom will boost your efficiency and elevate your DIY game.

Watch our button tufting tutorial below for Eric’s best tips on mastering this upholstery technique. You’ll learn valuable tricks like marking the button positions on the back side of the fabric for perfect alignment and how to secure your buttons in place for a tight, evenly cinched look.

Did you enjoy this tutorial? Click here for more DIY Tips & Tricks videos. We have videos on everything from sewing a zippered pocket to mitering corners and backstitching in leather. And if you’re new to sewing, check out our Learning to Sew series. This seven-part series walks you through the fundamentals of sewing, from setting up your machine to sewing basic stitches.