Choosing the Right Filling & Wadding
Traditional upholstery builds up in layers, and each filling does a different job:
- Horsehair / coir: the firm, springy base filling used over webbing and hessian on traditional seats — gives shape and resilience.
- Wool wadding (felt): a soft, breathable layer used over horsehair to stop coarser fillings working through the top fabric, and to smooth the final shape.
- Polyester wadding (Dacron): a synthetic alternative to wool wadding, mainly used as a soft skin layer over foam to stop the fabric "grinning" against foam edges, and for a smooth, rounded finish.
- Skin wadding: a very thin, fine wadding used as the final layer directly under show fabric for a crisp finish.
For a traditional sprung seat: webbing → hessian → springs → hessian → horsehair/coir → scrim → wool wadding → calico → top fabric. For a modern foam seat: webbing → foam → polyester wadding → top fabric.