Dacron, Wadding and Batting: What’s the Difference? An NZ Guide

Dacron, wadding, batting, fibre-fill, polywrap – customers use the words interchangeably, and half the time so do suppliers. They are related but not the same, and using the wrong one is why some DIY cushions look lumpy and some seat fronts wear through in a year. Here is what each actually is and when to use it.

Quick definitions

Term	What it is	Typical weight	Main use
Dacron / polyester wrap	Bonded polyester fibre sheet, smooth and springy	100–300 gsm	Wrapping foam cushions
Wadding	General term for any sheet padding; in NZ upholstery usually means polyester or cotton felt	200–800 gsm	Padding over foam on frames
Batting	Quilting term; thin, even sheet of cotton, poly or wool	80–200 gsm	Quilts, light padding under fabric
Fibre-fill / loose fill	Loose siliconised polyester fibre	Sold by kg	Back cushions, scatter cushions
Cotton felt / linter	Compressed cotton waste in a sheet	600–1000 gsm	Traditional upholstery, over springs and hessian

Dacron: the foam wrap

Dacron was originally a DuPont trade name for polyester fibre; in upholstery it now means the bonded polyester sheet you wrap round a foam cushion. The fibres are heat-bonded so it holds together as a sheet, doesn’t migrate and springs back after compression.

What it does:

• Rounds the hard edges of a foam block so the cushion looks plump, not boxy
• Fills the cover so the fabric sits smooth without the foam showing through
• Lets the cover slide on and off
• Adds a soft first-touch feel over firm HR foam

Weights: 100–150 gsm for a tight, tailored look or dining seats; 200 gsm is the all-rounder for sofa cushions – our 200 gsm Dacron wrap is what we use on most jobs; 300 gsm for a soft, plush lounge look or to bring a slightly undersized foam up to cover size. Wrap over top, front and bottom of the cushion, not the sides, and hold it with a light mist of spray adhesive.

Wadding: the padding on frames

Wadding is the broader category, and in an NZ workshop it means the layer that goes between foam and fabric on a fixed-upholstery piece – an armchair arm, a dining chair seat, a headboard. Polyester wadding is the modern default; cotton felt is the traditional alternative and still the better choice on antiques and anywhere you need a firm, dead layer rather than a springy one.

Wadding does a job that Dacron doesn’t: it isolates the fabric from the foam so the cover wears against soft fibre rather than sawing against the foam edge. On a dining chair front rail, skipping the wadding is the reason fabric wears through in a year. See it in use in our dining chair reupholstery guide.

Rules of thumb:

• Dining seats and bar stools: one layer of 200–300 gsm polyester over the foam
• Armchair arms and wings: 300–500 gsm polyester or a layer of cotton felt
• Headboards: 200 gsm is enough; more gets lumpy under buttoning
• Antique restoration: cotton felt over hessian, then a thin polyester skin under the top fabric

Batting: thin, even and mostly for sewing

Batting is the quilter’s word and it describes a thinner, more even sheet, often needle-punched rather than bonded. In upholstery it turns up as the interlining in a quilted headboard panel, under a slip cover, or as a very light skin over a wadding layer to stop the wadding fibres showing through a fine fabric. If someone asks for batting for a sofa cushion, they almost certainly mean Dacron.

Fibre-fill: for cushions that squash

Loose siliconised polyester is the filling in most back cushions and scatter cushions. It is soft, cheap and washable, but it goes flat and needs plumping. For a sofa back cushion, the trade approach is a foam core with a fibre-fill envelope round it, which gives the loft of fibre and the shape memory of foam. Feather and down do the same job with more weight and better recovery but higher cost. Loose fill is sold by weight; a 500 × 500 mm scatter cushion takes roughly 350–450 g.

Natural fibres: cotton felt, coir and hair

Traditional upholstery used coir, horsehair and cotton felt rather than foam and polyester, and all three are still available for restoration work. Coir (coconut fibre) forms the firm first stuffing over springs; curled hair gives the resilient second stuffing; cotton felt smooths the top. These materials breathe better than foam and last decades, but they demand hand-stitching skills and are much slower to work with. For a genuine antique they are worth the effort; for a 1970s armchair, foam plus polyester wadding gives the same feel in a fraction of the time.

Which to buy for common jobs

Job	Buy
Replace sofa seat cushion foam	Foam + 200 gsm Dacron, ~0.5 m per cushion
Re-cover dining chairs	25–50 mm foam + 200–300 gsm polyester wadding
Upholstered headboard	25 mm foam + 200 gsm wadding
Plump up existing back cushions	Fibre-fill by the kg
Window seat cushion	Foam + 200 gsm Dacron top and front
Restore Victorian armchair	Hessian, cotton felt, polyester skin

How much to order

Dacron and wadding are sold by the linear metre off a roll that is usually 1.4–1.5 m wide. As a guide, a sofa seat cushion takes about 0.5 m of 200 gsm Dacron, a dining chair 0.3 m of wadding, a queen headboard 1.5 m, and a full armchair recover 3–4 m of wadding in mixed weights. Round up; offcuts are useful for padding arms and filling gaps, and a roll end costs less than a second delivery.

Common mistakes

• Wrapping all six faces of a cushion: the boxing bulges and the zip strains. Top, front and bottom only.
• Using loose fibre-fill instead of Dacron sheet: it migrates and lumps within weeks.
• Too heavy a wadding under thin fabric: fibres show through as a fuzzy texture. Add a thin batting skin.
• Skipping wadding on a wooden rail: fabric wears on the edge.
• Gluing with contact adhesive: it soaks in and goes hard. Use a light mist of upholstery spray adhesive.

If you want to skip the layering altogether, an Auckland workshop will do it in an afternoon: our sister business Upholstery World handles cushion refills and full recovers, and can match the padding to the original.