What is deep buttoning?
Deep buttoning is a pattern of buttons pulled down into the stuffing on twine, forming diamonds of fabric between them with folded pleats running corner to corner. The critical point is that the grid marked on the fabric must be larger than the grid marked on the base — typically 13 mm extra per diamond for shallow buttoning, 19 mm for medium and 32 mm for deep, in both directions. That surplus is what travels down into each button pull and forms the pleat. Mark the fabric with the base spacing and the cover will be tight, the pleats will not form, and the panel is scrap.
The buttons aren’t decorative attachments laid on the surface; they’re compression points, pulled all the way down through the pad.
Planning a buttoned job? The deep-buttoning calculator gives you the diamond grid, the fabric fullness and the button count for any panel.
Buttoning is what turns a plain padded surface into the kind of upholstery that makes you stop and look. It’s the iconic decorative-and-structural technique of the Chesterfield, the wing-back, the deep ottoman top. The buttons are pulled all the way down through the stuffing to a backing patch on the underside, with the fabric pleated between them in the diamond pattern that carries the work’s name. Done well, it’s beautiful and long-lasting. Done badly, it sags within months and looks amateurish forever.
We use deep buttoning on perhaps one job in five. It is labour-intensive (a small panel takes a working day; a Chesterfield back takes a week) and customers tend to underestimate the price; we always price-quote on the phone before they bring the chair, to avoid surprise. Float buttoning — the lighter alternative covered later — is faster and cheaper, and is the right choice when the customer wants the look without the full traditional structure.
Rule of thumb: 30 minutes per button on the first chair, 10 minutes per button once you have the rhythm. A 60-button Chesterfield back is therefore 30 hours of work for a beginner, 10 hours for a pro.
How far apart should deep buttons be spaced?
Deep buttons are spaced 100–120 mm apart, horizontally and vertically, in a diamond grid with alternate rows offset by half a spacing. Closer than 100 mm the panel looks busy; wider than 120 mm the pleats between the buttons sag.
The button positions form a diamond grid, with alternating rows offset by half a column-spacing. Spacing is typically 100–120 mm between buttons, horizontally and vertically. Closer than 100 mm and the panel becomes visually busy; further than 120 mm and the pleats between buttons sag.
Mark the grid out on the calico (US: muslin) under-cover before applying the show fabric. Use chalk lines and a long ruler. The grid is symmetrical about the panel’s centre line; mark the centre first, then work outward. A panel with off-centre buttons looks immediately wrong. Make a backing-patch hole through the calico at every button position before fitting the show fabric — just large enough to pass a long buttoning needle through later (about 3 mm) — and it saves you tearing the calico when the buttons are pulled down.
Aim for an odd number of rows on a back panel (3, 5 or 7). Odd numbers give a symmetric central row, which reads better visually than an even-row pattern.
How a button is pulled
Each button is held in position by a length of button twine (or doubled mattress twine) passing through the button shank, down through every layer of the pad, and tied off on the underside against a small backing patch — a 50 mm square of calico that spreads the load.
The technique requires the long straight buttoning needle and a steady pull. Thread the twine through the button shank; thread the buttoning needle with both ends of the twine; push the needle down through the show fabric, the wadding, the calico, the stuffing, and out the back. Have a helper hold the backing patch ready; slip the twine under the patch and tie a slip knot.
Now pull. The button compresses down into the pad, creating the dimple. Pull until the dimple is the depth you want (about 25 mm for shallow buttoning, 40 mm for deep). Tighten the slip knot, secure with a square knot, trim the twine. Move to the next button.
Buttoning is genuinely impossible alone on a large panel. We do every Chesterfield buttoning job as a pair: one of us threads and pulls; the other holds the backing patch and ties off. The job goes three times faster than either of us could manage alone.
The pleats between the buttons
As you pull each button down, the show fabric needs to be eased into a clean diagonal pleat between this button and each of its four diamond-grid neighbours. The pleats form themselves as you pull, but they need to be directed — otherwise the fabric folds randomly and the panel looks chaotic.
Use a regulator to ease the fabric into position before tightening each button. The pleat should run in a straight line between two buttons, with the fold-edge always pointing in the same direction (we conventionally have all pleats pointing downward on a vertical panel and inward on a horizontal one). Consistency matters; mixed pleat directions look amateurish. After all buttons are pulled, walk around the panel and press each pleat sharp with the regulator. The pleats should look like crisp, deliberate folds, not accidental creases.
Deep buttoning needs about 30% extra fabric over what an unbuttoned panel would need, because the fabric has to stretch into the dimples and pleats. A Chesterfield back that takes 5 m² of fabric without buttoning takes 6.5 m² with it. Tell the customer.
Float buttoning: the lighter alternative
Float buttoning is the cheaper, faster, less structural version of deep buttoning. The buttons are still pulled down, but only through the show fabric and wadding (US: batting) — not through the full pad. The dimples are shallower (10–15 mm rather than 25–40), the fabric pleats less dramatically, and the buttons are secured to the calico under-cover rather than to a backing patch on the underside.
Float buttoning takes about a third of the time of deep buttoning and produces a perfectly acceptable result for modern pieces or for customers who want the visual effect without paying for the full traditional work. It’s not appropriate for any heritage Chesterfield (the look is wrong) but it’s the right answer for a modern headboard, a contemporary tub chair back, or a budget-constrained restoration.
Float buttoning lasts about a decade before the buttons begin to pull loose; deep buttoning lasts the life of the chair. The trade-off is the price.
Tools & materials for this job
- Self-cover buttons (14 mm) (paid link)
- Long straight buttoning needle (paid link)
- Button twine / doubled mattress twine (paid link)
- Upholstery regulator (paid link)
- Unbleached calico (for backing patches) (paid link)
In 2014 we took on a full restoration of a late-Victorian Chesterfield club sofa — everything: re-springing, first-stuffing, second-stuffing, calico, top fabric in tan leather, deep buttoning to the inside back and arms. The buttoning alone was 84 buttons across the back and arms. We allowed three days for the buttoning and ended up taking five.
The job that took us by surprise was getting the leather to pleat consistently around the buttons. Cloth pleats obediently; leather is much stiffer and resists. We had to dampen each pleat individually with a sponge before tightening the button, which doubled the per-button time. The customer (a London barrister; the chair was for his chambers) accepted the over-run gracefully and paid the additional days. We learned to always price leather buttoning at twice the cloth rate.
The Chesterfield sofa — the deep-buttoned, rolled-arm leather couch that defines the form — is conventionally said to have been commissioned by Philip Stanhope, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield, in the late 18th century. The Earl wanted a couch on which a gentleman could sit comfortably without creasing his clothing; the upholsterer (whose name is lost) reputedly designed the deep-buttoned leather form to let the sitter lounge without their breeches riding up.
The story is probably apocryphal — the earliest documented use of ‘Chesterfield’ as a sofa name is in trade catalogues from the 1880s, a century after the Earl. But the design, with its low arms equal in height to the back, is genuinely characteristic of late-Georgian club furniture, and the attribution to the 4th Earl is at least plausible. We tell the story to customers; they always like it.
- Insufficient fabric allowance. Deep buttoning needs 30% more fabric than a flat panel. Quote on this; cut on this; allow on this.
- Inconsistent pleat direction. All pleats running the same way looks deliberate; mixed directions look accidental. Decide a direction; stick to it across the whole panel.
- Even number of rows. Three, five or seven rows have a clean central row of buttons. Four or six look off-centre even though they aren’t.
- Pulling buttons different depths. Every button should be the same depth into the pad. Mark a depth gauge on the buttoning needle to keep them consistent.
- Float-buttoning a Chesterfield. The look is wrong; the customer paid for the heritage piece; don’t shortcut. Float-buttoning is for modern pieces, not for the form the technique was invented for.
Buttoned, pleated, dimpled. The chair has its character. The next chapter is the small final-pass work that distinguishes one chair type from another: gimp, welt, decorative nails, bottoming cloth (US: cambric dust cover) — the trims that the customer remembers without quite knowing why.
Rather hand this one to a professional? Find a good upholsterer near you →