Upholstery Techniques - Group A

Stuffing & Padding

The Stuffing & Padding of upholstered furniture not only provides comfort and longer life but also shapes the furniture into it’s own unique style. Modern techniques are equally as good as traditional when attaining a high standard of durability.

Techniques applied in stuffing & padding upholstered furniture are largely determined by the style but also by the kinds of materials used. Depending on how upholsterers are trained, they will generally favour certain types of materials. There are many different types of materials used in the stuffing & padding process, each with their own role to play.

Once the upholstery foundation (of webbing, base hessian and possibly springs) has been attached to the frame, the first layer of stuffing is put down. Horsehair would traditionally be used for this but is now difficult and more expensive to obtain. A fibrous fire-retardant substitute or foam is now used as a modern equivalent.

Hair or fibrous stuffing is secured by bridle ties, which are stitched into the base hessian and looped to hold the fibres in place. Another layer of hessian is then applied over the stuffing.

Any stuffing that is more substantial than a thin pincushion pad will need to be supported. Along the edges of the second layer of hessian, rows of stitches are used to keep the edges firm, which improves durability and helps define the contours of the furniture. This technique is called ‘Stitched Edges’ and can be applied to seats, arms and backs.

Around the 1970’s more modern upholstery techniques of using foam started to replace the traditional first layer of horsehair and fibre stuffing. No stitching techniques are required when using foam as the foams edges are already well supported.

There are many various densities of foam, each used for different purposes. The denser and hardwearing foams are mainly used on the seats as an initial layer of padding. The less dense and softer foams are used more for secondary layers and on the arms and backs.

Cotton Felt and Wadding are other materials used as second and third layers of padding on seats, arms and backs. These layers can give an extra comfort and final shaping under the top-cover.

-Jodi