The Little Details: Tufting

Tufting is an upholstery technique that was originally used to keep a sofa’s filling evenly distributed. This was done by sewing through the upholstery fabrics and filling of an upholstered sofa and then securing the stitch at the other side (in the case of cushions) or inside the sofa (for fixed back sofas). This created dips in the upholstery in which buttons were often used to disguise the stitches. Because of the extra reinforcement, tufted furniture was much more durable than non-tufted furniture.

These days, tufting has become a favored decorative element too, and requires a lot of skill to do correctly. Tufting can be done on the sofa back, sofa seat, or both.

Featured

Biscuit Tufting

Biscuit tufting stitches upholstery in a regular grid pattern and can be done with or without buttons and as deep or shallow tufting. Biscuit tufting is really popular with Mid-century modern design.

Blind Tufting

Blind tufting is the simplest form of tufting. It is purely done with stitches and no buttons for a seamless, modern look. It most often uses shallow tufts although can be done with deeper tufts.

Diamond Tufting

Diamond tufting is so-called because its dips form a pattern of repeated diamond shapes. It can be done as shallow or deep tufting and with or without buttons, although with buttons is the most popular.

Single Line Tufting

Single line tufting is a straight line of tufting, usually accompanied by stitched vertical seams at right angles to the tuft. These tufts are usually quite shallow and can be done with or without buttons.

UpholsteryApple HallidayMay 18, 2020tufting, tufted furniture, kensington sofa, willoughby sofa, english sofa, classic, midcentury modern