How's It's Made did a segment on making fabric. The fabric they showed had the threads go through a glue solution, then dried, before they began weaving. The threads are so thin and easily broken that they need to have glue added to help keep them strong.
One thing I get calls on occasionally is new furniture fabric where the fabric is fraying.
Also, all these folks who get great deals on fabric, pay to for upholstery, and then what? How long before the glue starts to loose it's binding strength?
I thought of this today because I am working with fabric from a designer that is $150 per yard wholesale. It is absolutely a pleasure to work with this fabric!
gene
You call it glue but others might call it sizing, that's what stiffens some fabrics (not just upholstery fabric), in time the sizing wears or is laundered off and the fabric becomes softer.