Upholstery Materials
There are so many different upholstery materials in the world, how do you choose the one that is right for your project? Well, it helps to know a thing or two about the textiles themselves.
Textiles come in many forms ranging from animals textiles to plant textiles. The type that you choose will largely depend upon the sort of upholstery materials that you are looking for. In essence, you want to choose the ones that will give your piece of furniture that look that you are going for. This article will help to break down all the textiles out there, so that you can have a better idea of what to look for. To begin, let’s start with animal textiles.
Animal textiles are made from hair or fur. This category contains fabrics such as wool, cashmere, angora, mohair, alpaca hair, llama wool, camel hair, and even goat hair. Additionally, silk can be placed in this category, since it is made from the cocoon of the Chinese silkworm. Next, we’ll move on to plant textures. Plant textiles include grass, rush, hemp, sisal, twine, cotton, flax, jute, modal, and anything that has been made with acetate. Also, you will find a lot of seaweed out there these days. Mineral textiles are a bit different, though they have their purpose as well.
Fabrics that can be considered mineral include vinyl, asbestos, basalt fibers, glass fibers, metal fibers, and metal foils. The most common textile that you will come across is those that are made from synthetic materials. Synthetics include polyester, aramid, acrylic, nylon, spandex, olefin fiber, ingeo, and lurex. Generally, those upholstery materials that are made from synthetic tend to be easier to clean, though they don’t have a luxurious look to them.
Now that you know which textiles fall under which categories, you can begin to imagine what you want your piece to look like. If you want an unusual look, opt for an animal textile that includes an interesting fur or hair pattern. If you like the idea of a natural look, a plant fabric may be quite unique. Then again, if you want your fabric to last, polyester is a good idea.
In the end, the upholstery materials that you select will be based upon the type of piece that you want to create. Go ahead and mix up all these textiles – you never know, you just may start a new trend.