Taking a look at using a tape-back button needle on caravan upholstery, ie the seat and sleep pads/mattresses.

Tape-back buttons are an ideal way to finish off caravan upholstery which is loose, and which you turn onto its back to sleep on, because the backs are finished off with plastic tabs/posts, removing the need for the backing button which might be uncomfortable to sleep on.

But the drawback is that tape-back buttons require specialist upholstery needles to insert and these needles are not cheap.

Tape-back button needles come in two main types-

1) one with the slot for the tape's tab/post near to the top such as the needle that I am using in this video, and which is designed to go all the way through and be pulled out the other side manually, and-

2) the auto-release variety with the slot for the tape's tab/post near to the point, which inserts the tab/post deep into the upholstery but not all the way through. This type is used when you have something like a chesterfield where you do not want to uncover the back in order to pull a needle through.

The manual needle , ie the one I use, is less common and it is probably less versatile than the auto-release type needle. The best price I found in the UK was AJT Upholstery Supplies's 12" tape-back needle for £74.50 shipped.

The auto-release ones can be used to go all the way through as I needed to do, but are even better when repairing popped buttons on furniture where you cannot come out the back and the tab/post needs to be hidden inside the wadding. The best price, if it works (I haven't actually had anyone confirm that it takes tape-back tabs/posts, as it is designed for metal clips but it looks like it should work), is the C.S. Osborne No. 417 Tufting Needle from somewhere like Amazon where the price can be as low as £65, with the Rolls Royce of needles being the two part Tacura Tufting Needle for LL Tapes which comes in at over £200.

Since I do not plan to do this again, I went with the safest (designed specifically for the tapes I had) and cheapest one.

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