Upholst Fabricsery For Perfect Furniture

Upholstery can really brighten up your furniture. When it comes to selecting a furniture, there are various factors that come into play before selecting the right one. The colours and patterns are essential and so are the fabrics. People mostly tend to buy new furniture or reupholster old ones that you do not want to discard. When you want to select the furniture with the right fabrics, one thing you must weigh is its durability. The fabric must withstand wear and tear for regular use furniture. The fabric durability is measured in terms of double roubles.  A fabric for light use should have a double-rubs of 8000 to 10000. Whereas a commercial grade upholstery fabric mostly should have 100,000 to 250,000 double-rubs.

You need a heavy duty fabric mostly for commercial purposes like furnishing a public road or furniture to be used by a large family. For an average use of a normal family, you must select a fabric of 15000 to 30000 double-rubs. Texture is also important when it comes to selecting a fabric for a furniture. No one would love to sit on scratchy furniture. Regular use furniture should be comfy to use. Like for example, your sofa and lounge chair. They need to have soft fabric as one is going to spend a lot of time sitting on it. You need to test the fabric by rubbing it on your arms and face. Let us take a look at some of the popular upholstery fabrics used for furniture.

Natural Fabrics For Upholstery

Linen is one of the natural fabrics popularly used as upholstery. It is made of flax and is an extremely strong natural fiber that is soft, smooth and lustrous. It is the right choice for upholstery as it resists spilling and soiling. Linen is used in blends with cotton for better durability and elasticity. Linen can be used only for furniture in a casual space rather than a formal space as the fabric can wrinkle.

Cotton is another durable fabric used for upholstery. It is soft and can be easily cleaned using soap and water. It is commonly used to make slipcovers. For the purpose of upholstery,100% cotton is not used. It is always a blend with other fabrics. The best quality cotton upholstery will have about 45% to 60% cotton. Cotton is easily susceptible to wrinkling and can be soiled.

Wool is a natural animal fibre that is durable to be used as upholstery fabric. Most woollen upholstery fabrics are actually a blend with other fibres. Natural wool can be scratchy, tough to clean and risks felting. Leather is another popular, natural fibre for upholstery fabrics. It is made of animal hides. It is durable and very easy to clean. Leather comes in different grades that determine the quality of the material. Ensure you select the best for your upholstery fabric.

Synthetic Fabrics For Upholstery 

Polyester is a high performance synthetic that was introduced in the 1950s. This fabric is mostly used in blend with other fabric. It is especially used along with cotton and wool. Polyester is most suitable for upholstery fabric as it provides strength, resistance to fading, abrasion, wrinkling and easy to clean. Velvet can be either natural or synthetic. It can be made from natural fibre like cotton or silk and synthetic fibre like polyester. Synthetic velvet is more durable than natural fibre. Velvet stands out for its comfort. It has a soft texture and provides plenty of rich colours though it is difficult to clean.

Microfiber is a knit blend of polyester fabric. Basically, a tightly woven synthetic fiber that has high quality maintains the aesthetics of suede. It is much softer than suede, durable, moisture resistance and easier to clean. It is commonly used as upholstery fabric for couches and lounge chairs. Rayon is a cellulose based material which was developed as an imitation for cotton, linen and silk. It is blended with other fabric threads to create a mix material that is most favourable to be used as upholstery fabric. It is quite durable but prone to wrinkling. Sunbrella is a fabric created for outdoor furniture. It is an acrylic fabric. It is a high quality fabric that can also be used in indoor furniture. It can withstand spills and direct sunlight.

The type of upholstery fabric ultimately boils down to your personal needs and affordability. There are some popular choices that are most liked by people. However, when it comes to durability synthetic fabric provides more durability and ease of maintenance than the natural fibres. But synthetic fibers may not have the texture of their natural counterparts. Choose a fabric that is long lasting, durable than going for the ones that are eye catchy.

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