Mattress detailing; how to spot a great mattress

Quilting designs

Whilst we are on the subject of side panels the following images show you two different designs of quilted panels. This type of finish is predominately found on low-priced mattresses. There is nothing special about them at all, they are just stitching designs and the following two are the most common.

3. The surface finish of a mattress

There are four types of mattress surface finish:

1. Traditional hand tufting
2. Quilting – light or deep
3. Pillowtop
4. Box top

Traditional Hand Tufting on Mattresses

The finish can be an absolute instant give-away as to the actual worth of a mattress. For instance, it can generally be taken as a given that there is no way a high-end mattress will have anything other than a tufted finish. No way will it be quilted and in most cases, it will not have a pillowtop.

Hand tufting is the traditional finish you are familiar with – the ‘buttons’ that keep the internal upholstery stable. These tufts can either be felt washers /pom poms/woollen tufts, there is no standard and all are acceptable. Obviously, even the cheapest of cheap mattresses can be tufted, the point I am trying to make is those mattresses that can be deemed high end will not be quilted.

It has to be said that the term ‘traditional hand-tufted’ is slightly misleading. This term should really be for the realms of Savoir beds where the tufting is actually done by hand, and twine is used by the artisan to gauge the actual tension. In

99% of all other cases, a machine compresses the mattress and pre-determined lengths of ‘tuft’ (known as jiffy ties) are inserted through the mattress.

Quilting on Mattresses

This done by a very large sewing machine and it is this particular method of finish that will explain to you why there are so many different model names of mattresses out there (in excess of 4000 by the way). In general terms, quilting is the process of stitching the outer fabric to a layer of wadding directly beneath the surface fabric. This wadding is usually polyester which indicates that the value of this particular mattress will either be low end or mid-range certainly cannot be deemed a high-end mattress.

The number of wadding layers that can be quilted to the outer fabric can be as much as the entire upholstery layers within the mattress. The automated machine is making the entire mattress ‘top panel’, ready to be placed on the spring unit and then stitched to the side panels and Bang, you have a mattress.

The number of designs this machine can produce is well into the hundreds, diamonds/squares/circles/shamrocks/smiley faces, anything! With so many quilting designs being produced you as a consumer are completely unable to tell one mattress from the other in a store or competing stores even though the internal components are identical. This is the main reason why upholstery details are rarely given in full and in detail. For if you actually knew this, you would be able to see that the only difference between hundreds of mattresses models is just the fabric colour and quilting design and, by the way, this is no exaggerated figure).

Pillow top box Mattresses

This is just a design feature which makes the mattress look as though there is a topper attached to the mattress. Pillowtops look like a pillow, box tops look like a, you guessed it, box top!

Pillowtops are an extremely flawed design. This is fundamentally a cheap mattress made to look like something quite special. There is no mistaking that visually it will look quite impressive, but look under the hood so to speak and you will soon realise it is all smoke and mirrors. They are always going to be one-sided (cheap) and the pillowtop will usually (there are very few exceptions) be a majority polyester-based upholstery layer. If you have read the post all about polyester you will now know that besides being the cheapest upholstery component used it does not have a particularly long lifespan. So once the pillowtop element of the mattress becomes depressed (not sad and forlorn but indented!) you will be sleeping in a hollow and out looking for a new mattress a lot sooner than you need to.

The alternative and logical solution to a pillowtop mattress is to purchase your mattress and a topper separately. This way you can replace the topper when nightly wear and tear takes its toll and the underlying mattress will have years of life left in it. Incidentally, a topper should be a necessary addition to all mattresses no matter how much you pay for them.

Box topped mattresses

In the majority of cases, these will be using either memory foam or synthetic latex as the primary layers. The effect of a box of upholstery sitting on top of the mattress is just a design detail and is usually a trim of piping on the side panel fabric. Again these will be one-sided mattresses.

4. The mattress build

This is either going to be a one-sided mattress or a two-sided mattress. Despite the simplicity of this choice, there is a lot to consider. There is a separate post detailing this subject here. In short, there is never going to be a mattress that can be considered high end that will be a one-sided mattress. These fall within the very low to mid-price ranges. The mid-price models should really have more than polyester as the primary comfort layers and realistically should be in the memory foam or latex categories.

You may also see summer and winter mattresses. Where each side has a different arrangement of fillings. One side is claimed to be cooler than the other. However, it can lead to unnecessary settlement and completely different feels on each side of the mattress. Leading you to stick to the side you prefer the most, hence only ever using one side.

If you’re looking for a cooler mattress then you’re better buying a 100% Natural Fibre model instead (with the same upholstery on each side). You can then always help cosy up the bed in winter with a winter duvet. It will ensure you get a longer lifespan out of your mattress and is an easier tweak than a summer/winter or seasonal mattress.

5. The Base

The base is a good indicator of the overall quality of the mattress. A cheap mattress will have a cheap base nothing more than a standard platform top divan that feels light and rough around the upholstery underside. Mattresses that can be considered mid to high end will be partnered with a sprung edged divan that is significantly upholstered.

The wheels or castors on the base is an indication of the quality and worth of the base. Flimsy wheels are the cheapest and indicate that the cost (and therefore build quality) are being kept down. Whereas shepherd Castors are the best and indicate a truly well-made mattress base. Plastic wheels/rollers will be found on the primarily low end or mid-range.

The fabric that surrounds the base is not lined on cheap bases. On mid to high-end bases, they are lined with polyester or other suitable lining material. The Base tops themselves will either be completely upholstered same as the sides (very high end).  Part upholstered which takes in about six inches around the perimeter on the top of the base or just upholstered on the sides leaving the entire base top covered in a cheap plain stitchbond material.

Mattress showrooms are akin to Supermarket shelving

When it comes to mattress showrooms you need to be prepared to know what you’re looking for. Just like the supermarkets where milk, coffee, bread, sugar, gin, tea etc are never together. The Showrooms are designed around the same thesis. It is known as ‘the walk’, the cheapest and most uncomfortable mattress is at the front, the first one you will really be expected to try. Obviously, this will not be good enough and so through the shop, you meander to eventually reaching the expensive and most desirable models at the back.

Realistically and logically, the models should be placed in price order from low to high from various manufacturers – this way you can go straight to your intended budget and see from a simple range what it can get you. So why is this never the case?

Most showroom mattresses are very similar beneath the covering

Going back to the quilting method above we know that the bulk of all mattresses within a showroom are intrinsically the same. This site tells you in great detail that there are only so many combinations of spring, support and upholstery you can get. Certainly not enough to fill a showroom as big as Dreams et al. So there has to be a considerable element of similarity between most of the mattresses you will be looking at. Each manufacturer will be vying for the intended sale so it will not be them who are setting the prices and they will certainly not be overcharging the retailer for a product if a manufacturing competitor is offering a similar or better-built mattress for a lower price.

Why don’t retailers tell you exactly what is in their mattresses?

So let us take it for granted that if ten manufacturers have similar priced, products on sale in a showroom – putting them side by side will instantly show you which manufacturer is offering the best value product – particularly if they tell you ‘What’s precisely under the hood’ – which the retailer, in particular, will certainly don’t want you to know!

That is why you really need to also know the following (click them for detailed articles to each).

• Spring type, count and gauge
• Grams per square meter of upholstery
• Types of comfort layers

Summary

There’s an awful lot to digest on the topic of mattress detailing.  Whether it be the finish of the fabric, the tufting used, box or pillowtop, whether it’s one or two-sided not to mention the base the mattress is put on.  If you need more help please contact us, or if you have read through all the information above why not visit our shop?  Here you can put your newfound mattress expertise to good use browsing all the detailed breakdowns of our mattresses.