The fabric of an upholstered piece is the most noticeable sign of quality and design. Upholstery material also is the part more than likely to show wear and soil. When selecting upholstery, you need to be aware of its sturdiness, clean-ability, and resistance to soil and fading.
How will your upholstered pieces be utilized in your home? Couches, chairs, and ottomans getting only moderate amounts of wear will do great with a less durable fabric.
Nevertheless, pieces subjected to day-to-day heavy wear need to be covered in difficult, long lasting, tightly woven fabrics.
When purchasing upholstery fabric or upholstered furnishings, know that the greater the thread count, the more tightly woven the fabric is, and the much better it will use. Thread count describes the number of threads per square inch of fabric.
Natural Fabrics
Linen: Linen is finest matched for formal living rooms or adult areas because it soils and wrinkles easily. Soiled linen upholstery should be expertly cleaned up to prevent shrinking.
Leather: This hard product can be carefully vacuumed, damp-wiped as required, and cleaned up with leather conditioner or saddle soap.
Cotton: This natural fiber supplies excellent resistance to use, fading, and pilling. It is less resistant to soil, wrinkling, and fire.
Wool: Sturdy and long lasting, wool and wool blends use excellent resistance to pilling, fading, wrinkling, and soil. Normally, wool is mixed with an artificial fiber to make it simpler to clean and to decrease the possibility of felting the fibers (causing them to bond together until they resemble felt). Blends can be spot-cleaned when essential.
Cotton Blend: Depending on the weave, cotton blends can be sturdy, family-friendly materials. A stain-resistant finish must be made an application for daily use.
Vinyl: Easy-care and less costly than leather, vinyls are ideal for hectic family living and dining-room. Resilience depends upon quality.
Silk: This delicate material is only ideal for adult areas, such as official living rooms. It should be expertly cleaned if stained.
Synthetic Fabrics
Acetate: Developed as replica silk, acetate can withstand mildew, pilling, and shrinking. It uses only fair resistance to soil and tends to use, wrinkle, and fade in the sun. It's not a great option for furnishings that will get difficult daily use.
Acrylic: This synthetic fiber was developed as imitation wool. It resists wear, wrinkling, staining, and fading. Low-grade acrylic might tablet exceedingly in areas that receive high degrees of abrasion. High-quality acrylics are manufactured to pill substantially less.
Nylon: Rarely used alone, nylon is usually blended with other fibers to make it among the greatest upholstery materials. Nylon is extremely durable; in a blend, it helps eliminate the squashing of napped materials such as velour. It does not readily soil or wrinkle, but it does tend to fade and pill.
Olefin: This is a good option for furnishings that will get heavy wear. It has no pronounced weaknesses.
Polyester: Rarely used alone in upholstery, polyester is blended with other view it fibers to include wrinkle resistance, remove squashing of napped fabrics, and decrease fading. When blended with wool, polyester aggravates pilling issues.
Rayon: Developed as a replica silk, linen, and cotton, rayon is durable. It wrinkles. Recent developments have made premium rayon really useful.
For more information, contact:
Ultra-Guard Fabric Protection | Chicago Service Center
1807 W North Ave #387
Chicago, IL 60622
(312) 761-1227