Textile Products for Bedding

Delia Tacheny
INT 323 - Textiles, Materials, and Sourcing

We made it! This week, I am going to write all about the final chapter and topic of our book Textiles for Residential and Commercial Interiors: Bedding Products. We have covered such a variety of textile products throughout the course of this semester, and this chapter includes quite a few all pertaining to bedding. Fun fact, approximately 45 % of total fiber used in the production of home textile products goes towards the production of beddings (Yates, 368). Both cotton and synthetic fibers, especially polyester, are popular in the bedding market for different types of products; wool, rayon, and acrylic are also specifically used at times. Except for furniture, mattresses, box springs, or the outer coverings on such items, all textile bedding products are subject to mandates set in the TFPIA (Textile Fiber Products Identification Act, in case we forgot) (368).  Let's talk a little bit about each product...

Mattresses and Related Accessories

The two primary mattress foundations are bedspring and box-spring. Bed-spring units are typically only utilized in cots and roll-away beds, while box-spring provide better support for everyday use. Mattresses come with a variety of interior components themselves, and each type of mattress has pros and cons. Polyurethane foam is used as the interior component of foam-core mattresses; some types of polyurethane foam is marketed as memory foam. Foam adds a comfortable level of support. Memory foam is slow to recover to its original shape and it is heat sensitive, so it easily conforms to the shape of the body without creating too much pressure on the hips, head, elbows, and heels (370). There are also pillow-top mattresses, latex foam mattresses, air mattresses, and gel mattresses. The generic fabric used to cover mattresses which can either be plain or decorative is called a "ticking." Mattress coverings help protect mattresses and mattress pads add extra cushioning. Wool mattress pads have been used in hospitals and healthcare facilities for some time. Slivers of wool are locked into a knitted base fabric composed of polyester. Placed under the bottom sheet, the wool padding provides softness, warmth, and moisture absorption (372). It is especially important that Mattresses and their related products are microbe resistant, and pass the Standard for the Flammability of Mattresses, 16 CFR (372).

Various Fillings

Different bedding products require filling which adds cushion, support, and loft. There are various options of which they each provide different levels of shape and loft. Natural filling materials include down, feathers, wool, and cotton. Down is technically defined as “the soft undercoating of waterfowl, which is composed of individual down fibers that are connected to one another at a central point.”  Feathers have individual quills and come from the outer layering of ducks and geese; they provide lightweight yet resilient support (373). Manufactured filling materials include regenerated manufactured fibers, synthetic fibers, and polyurethane foam (374). Down, wool, and polyester all have effective insulative values. Down and feathers are naturally lofty and lightweight but are limited in supply in comparison to the demand, and the retrieving labor involved makes them more expensive options. Wool has great resiliency, but the fibers are comparatively heavy and expensive (374-375). Overall, filling materials must be resilient enough to regain their original loftiness after being compressed by body weight; otherwise, the mattress or pillow can no longer fulfill its purpose and function (374). Careful care must be taken of fillings in order to not ruin the product (375).

Pillows

Pillows come in all different shapes and sizes and purposes. They must be filled with one of the fillings mentioned above and then covered in a ticking or casing. If a casing fabric is used, it needs to have a high fabric count to fully protect and conceal the filling, especially with down filling. For pillow protectors, the fabric needs to be machine washable; common choices are muslin, percale, traditional ticking, or a pattern damask. Pillow shams are decorative casings for daytime display; these are often part of a coordinated set of products (375-376).

Sheets and Pillowcases

Once again, sheets and pillowcases can come in an assortment of styles from minimalistic to highly decorative. Cotton was originally the most popular for sheeting fabric; that being said, the cotton sheets were usually treated with durable-press resins which improves its resiliency but also was a potential weakener to the fibers and their abrasion resistance. In order to preserve the use-life of resin-treated sheeting, manufacturers started to use polyester over cotton. However, in recent years, consumers have expressed a preference for natural fibers, so once again, sheets have trended towards higher cotton content (376). Sheeting fabrics tend to be plain weaves, but they vary in features such as yarn type, size, and content. Higher-quality sheets tend to feature finer and smoother yarns as well as a higher fabric count; muslin, percale, and warp sateen are examples of higher quality sheeting fabrics. Muslin sheets contain carded yarns, and the fabric count has a minimum of 112 and a high of 140 yarns per inch (128 is most common). Percale has a minimum of 168 and a high of 220 yarns per inch (180 is most common); percale sheets are usually woven from fine, combed yarns (377). When it comes to dying techniques, solid color sheets are typically piece-dyed, and patterns are typically screen printed or digitally printed. A popularly marketed product are cosmetotextiles which use nanotechnology to integrate materials into fibers at the molecular level that claim to have skin-smoothing properties; examples of some claims include reducing wrinkles and smoothing cellulite (378). Sheeting products are evaluated for various properties which our outlines in the ASTM D5431, "Standard Performance Specification for Woven and Knitted Sheeting Products for Institutional and Household Use."

Blankets

We all love a cozy blanket, and just like every other product, we can analyze our favorite blanket for fiber type, construction, and performance. Blankets are typically composed of cotton, synthetics, or wool. Acrylic is also a popular choice because it insulates well and is lightweight but also bulky. In many ways, it resembles wool but without the problems of moths and dry-cleaning costs (379). Blankets can be woven, knit, tufted, needle-punched, or flocked – all techniques we have learned throughout the book:

• Plain and Leno-weaving are popular for blanketing; weaving can produce double-faced blanketing or reversible blanketing.
• A napped, knit synthetic fleece, usually made of polyester is quite popular in the knitted blanket category.
• Tufting has been adapted as a method to produce a small quantity of blankets.
• Needle-punched blanketing is made by cross-layering a thick batt with webs of staple-length fibers on each side of a web of yarns. The batt is then fed into a machine where barbed needles punch into the batt, and the material is then chain-stitched to reduce the depth of the batt.
• Flocking can produce lightweight, warm blankets by flocking nylon over the surfaces of a thin slab of polyurethane foam (381). 

Blankets can be evaluated for similar performance features as sheeting, according to ASTM D5432, "Standard Performance Specification for Blanket Products for Institutional and Household Use."

Bedspreads and Comforters

Last, but not least, bedspreads and comforters are technically defined distinctly. Bedspreads are "a type of bedcovering that is placed over the blankets and sheets"; a comforter is "a bedcovering assembly consisting of an insulating filler secured between two layers of fabric" (383). Bedspread "drops" have various different styles similar to curtain and drapery styles. That being said, the fabric choice must be suitable for draping, and yet there are a multitude of options. Comforters, however, have tended to become more popular than classical bedspreads. Comforters can be filled with almost any filling type (down, feathers, fiberfill, or loose batting of polyester). Technically, those filled with down are considered duvets. Most comforters are channel quilted to minimize shifting and clumping of the filling (383). Fill leakage, which is the migration or penetration of the filling material through the outer covering, can be prevented by adding a spunbonded backing or interior lining to the comforter (384). And of course, ASTM standards (D4037 and D4769) exist for bedspreads and comforters as well. 

Yates, M., & Concra, A. (2019). Textiles for residential and commercial interiors / Mary Paul Yates; Adrienne                                Concra. Fairchild Books, Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.