Citation: Lange, J.; Ciura, A.;
Majewski, A.; Wojnowska, M. Study
on the Influence of Selected Fabrics
and Stitching on the Strength of
Upholstery Covers. Materials 2022, 15,
3854. https://doi.org/10.3390/
ma15113854
Academic Editors: Alberto
Campagnolo and Alberto Sapora
Received: 24 December 2021
Accepted: 21 May 2022
Published: 28 May 2022
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral
with regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional affil-
iations.
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
Article
Study on the Influence of Selected Fabrics and Stitching on the
Strength of Upholstery Covers
Julia Lange * , Agata Ciura, Adam Majewski and Marlena Wojnowska
Department of Furniture Design, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Poznan University of Life Sciences,
60-637 Poznan, Poland; ciura.agata@wp.pl (A.C.); adam.majewski@up.poznan.pl (A.M.);
marlena.wojnowska@up.poznan.pl (M.W.)
* Correspondence: julia.lange@up.poznan.pl
Abstract:
So far, no coherent and comprehensive method has been elaborated allowing investigation
of tensile strength of upholstery seams dedicated to upholstered furniture. Producers of this type of
furniture are interested in the assessment of the quality of upholstery material joints, which seems to
be particularly important for ensuring the appropriate quality of products. Therefore, the objective of
this research was to investigate the influence of the type of material used and the direction of the
fabric cut on the strength of upholstery covers. Static tensile testing of selected upholstery fabric
samples was performed, and an attempt was made to identify the most optimal fabric–seam joints.
It was stated as a conclusion that the fabric tensile strength was the highest for Secret 10 fabric.
In addition, the strength of upholstery covers is not influenced by the direction of the fabric die
cut. For each fabric, a different configuration is preferable, as shown by results (Power 13: A-B,
Secret 10: B-B, Soft 10: A-A). The method, implemented for upholstered furniture, allows for an
objective assessment of the strength of upholstery covers and the selection of the most advantageous
fabric–seam combination for future furniture designs.
Keywords: upholstery; sewing; furniture; seam; strength; design
1. Introduction
Furniture is a basic object for everyday use and is both practical and functional in
character, providing also decorative value to residential interiors. Upholstered furniture,
apart from the main relaxation aspect, is designed to make the interior more attractive.
The complexity of upholstered furniture construction allows freedom in designing forms
and shapes, and thus creation of unique and unrepeatable objects. The aesthetic appear-
ance of furniture is mainly affected by the quality of workmanship. However, during
the production process there is a risk of defects appearing, which significantly reduces
the aesthetic value of the furniture and decreases the product’s impact on the customer.
Moreover, upholstered products should be characterized by durability in both construc-
tion and cover elements, which are in direct contact with the human body, maintaining
comfort and safety of use. Such technologically and structurally complicated products
as upholstered furniture are subjected to detailed quality control, especially in terms of
fabrics. When considering only the textile aspect, it must be stated that textile production
is one of the oldest worldwide industries, with a production volume exceeding 88.5 million
tons per year. It is a matter of great importance, especially for developing countries whose
share reached 58.6% of the global textile market [
1
]. Fabrics, as a fundamental material for,
e.g., clothing, provide an extended research field, including: types, structure, mechanical
and acoustic properties, comfort, and the manufacturing production process, as well as
environmental impact. Thus, in the literature of the subject, comprehensive research on
textile physical testing methods and advanced characteristics can be found [
2
,
3
]. In general,
the quality of the fabric is, on the one hand, described based on such parameters as tensile
Materials 2022, 15, 3854. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15113854 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/materials
