Fabric Protection for Dummies



The material of an upholstered piece is the most noticeable sign of quality and style. Upholstery fabric also is the part probably to reveal wear and soil. When choosing upholstery, you ought to know its toughness, clean-ability, and resistance to soil and fading.

How will your upholstered pieces be utilized in your home? Sofas, chairs, and ottomans getting just moderate amounts of wear will do fine with a less resilient material.

Pieces subjected to daily heavy wear need to be covered in difficult, long lasting, securely 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 better it will use. Thread count describes the variety of threads per square inch of fabric.

Natural Fabrics
Linen: Linen is best fit for official living-room or adult locations because it soils and wrinkles easily. And, it won't stand up to heavy wear. Nevertheless, linen does withstand pilling and fading. Soiled linen upholstery must be professionally cleaned up to prevent shrinking.

Leather: This difficult product can be carefully vacuumed, damp-wiped as required, and cleaned with leather conditioner or saddle soap.

Cotton: This natural fiber provides great resistance to use, fading, and pilling. It is less resistant to soil, wrinkling, and fire. Surface area treatments and blending with other fibers often atone for these weak points. Sturdiness and use depend on the weave and finish. Damask weaves are formal; canvas (duck and sailcloth) is more casual and more resilient.

Wool: Sturdy and long lasting, wool and wool blends use excellent resistance to pilling, fading, wrinkling, and soil. Usually, wool is combined with a synthetic fiber to make it easier to clean and to reduce the possibility of felting the fibers (causing them to bond together up until they resemble felt). Blends can be spot-cleaned when required.



Cotton Blend: Depending on the weave, cotton blends can be sturdy, family-friendly fabrics. A stain-resistant finish should be requested everyday use.

Vinyl: Easy-care and less expensive than leather, vinyls are ideal for busy learn more household living and dining-room. Toughness depends upon quality.

Silk: This fragile material is just appropriate for adult areas, such as formal living rooms. It must be professionally cleaned if soiled.

Artificial Fabrics
Acetate: Developed as replica silk, acetate can hold up against mildew, pilling, and diminishing. It offers only fair resistance to soil and tends to wear, wrinkle, and fade in the sun. It's not an excellent 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 remove the squashing of napped materials such as velvet. It doesn't 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 combined with other fibers to include wrinkle resistance, remove squashing of napped fabrics, and decrease fading. When blended with wool, polyester exacerbates 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


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