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The Right Fabric For Your Upholstery Project
October 26, 2017 02:04:52pm
The first part of any big upholstery project usually includes looking through an endless array of fabrics, including natural, synthetic, and blended fabrics in every color and pattern imaginable. It’s hard not to feel overwhelmed by all your choices! Use our tips to help navigate the endless color and texture choices and find the perfect fabric for your reupholstery project.
Get to know the most common types of fabric for upholstered furniture. These include:
- Cotton – Cotton has many benefits. It holds its dye well, so it’s a great fabric for deep colors or patterns. It’s a comfortable, casual fabric, and it’s easy to clean, so we can freely use it on furniture that gets regular use. It’s also extremely durable, and known for being one of the strongest natural fibers available. Cotton can fade and yellow in direct sunlight, though, so plan on keeping it away from windows or areas that get direct sunlight. It also can be susceptible to mildew in damp environments, so plan to keep it away from open windows or doors leading to the outside of the home.
- Leather – Leather has an unmistakable look and gives furniture the air of sophistication and luxury. Leather is also easy to clean and ages well. It’s durable, but still susceptible to tears and scrapes, so many homeowners choose to keep leather furniture away from high traffic areas or rooms where pets and children play. Depending on what your leather furniture is used for, you may need to maintain it with special leather conditioner to keep natural oils and body oils at bay.
- Wool – Wool is a versatile fabric. It is resistant to pilling, wrinkling, and fading, and repels dirt well. Wool can be tough to clean, so it is often blended with synthetic fiber to make cleanup easier.
- Blends – Blends, namely polyester blends, are a favorite fabric style for many homeowners and designers because of versatility and durability. Poly-blends can consist of acrylic, nylon, rayon, or other synthetic fibers, and can be blended with natural fibers to enhance their performance in certain ways. Poly-blends can also be made to look like different fabrics, including silk and wool, allowing you to create the look of such fabrics, but at a lower cost. Perhaps best of all, these fabrics are resistant to fading and stains, so they are a great choice for homes with pets and small children.
If you are still on the fence about which fabric to choose for your upholstering project, the craftsmen at your Jacksonville FL furniture refinishing service will be able to work with you to select the perfect material. The best upholstery shops employ technicians who are trained to understand the details of all kinds of fabric and know how to carefully work with nearly any material.
Jax Furniture Refinishing & Upholstering is the best Jacksonville FL upholstery shop, and the service to trust with your furniture. We specialize in repairs, restoration, and refinishing, and are experts in custom upholstering. Our master craftsman and technicians can transform your upholstered chair, sofa, or loveseat from a drab, faded, and forgotten item and give it a fresh, new look. Stop by our office and check out our fabric books, or call and set up an estimate appointment for your upholstered furniture. We are the furniture upholsterers of choice for homeowners throughout the greater Jacksonville area, including historic Riverside, Avondale, and San Marco, and Jacksonville Beaches, and we are the best choice for your own furniture, too!
