The material of an upholstered piece is the most noticeable sign of quality and style. Upholstery fabric likewise is the part more than likely to show wear and soil. When selecting upholstery, you must understand its durability, clean-ability, and resistance to soil and fading.
How will your upholstered pieces be used in your house? Couches, chairs, and ottomans getting only moderate amounts of wear will do great with a less long lasting material.
However, pieces subjected to everyday heavy wear requirement to be covered in hard, long lasting, tightly woven fabrics.
When buying upholstery material or upholstered furnishings, be aware that the higher the thread count, the more firmly woven the material is, and the much better it will use. Thread count refers to the number of threads per square inch of fabric.
Natural Fabrics
Linen: Linen is best fit for official living spaces or adult locations due to the fact that it soils and wrinkles easily. Soiled linen upholstery should be expertly cleaned up to prevent shrinkage.
Leather: This tough material can be gently vacuumed, damp-wiped as required, and cleaned up with leather conditioner or saddle soap.
Cotton: This natural fiber offers great 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. Usually, wool is blended with a synthetic fiber to make it easier to clean and to decrease the possibility of felting the fibers (triggering them to bond together up until they look like felt). Blends can be spot-cleaned when essential.
Cotton Blend: Depending on the weave, cotton blends view can be strong, family-friendly materials. A stain-resistant finish ought to be obtained daily usage.
Vinyl: Easy-care and more economical than leather, vinyls are perfect for hectic family living and dining rooms. Resilience depends on quality.
Silk: This delicate fabric is only suitable for adult areas, such as formal living rooms. It must be professionally cleaned up if stained.
Artificial Fabrics
Acetate: Developed as replica silk, acetate can hold up against mildew, pilling, and diminishing. Nevertheless, it provides just fair resistance to soil and tends to wear, wrinkle, and fade in the sun. It's not a good choice for furnishings that will get hard daily usage.
Acrylic: This synthetic fiber was developed as imitation wool. It resists wear, wrinkling, soiling, and fading.
Nylon: Rarely used alone, nylon is usually combined 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 noticable weak points.
Polyester: Rarely used alone in upholstery, polyester is blended with other fibers to add wrinkle resistance, remove squashing of napped materials, and minimize fading. When mixed with wool, polyester worsens pilling problems.
Rayon: Developed as an imitation silk, linen, and cotton, rayon is durable. Nevertheless, it wrinkles. Current advancements have made top quality rayon very practical.
For more information, contact:
Ultra-Guard Fabric Protection | Chicago Service Center
1807 W North Ave #387
Chicago, IL 60622
(312) 761-1227