Selecting the right fabric for your upholstered furniture can be overwhelming due to the variety of options. In Massachusetts, the best place to go look at fabrics is The Boston Design Center. The BDC plays host to many showrooms like Kravet, Osborne & Little, Cowtan & Tout, Pierre Frey, and The Martin Group.
As you walk through these showrooms, you'll see thousands of fabrics lining the walls. On the back of each of fabric there will be a list of all of the fibers used (and the percentage of each one.) Below are some tips and tricks on how to find the right fabric for you:
Try to go with fabrics manufactured with natural fibers. Natural fibers are better for the environment and for your health! There are no chemicals used when manufacturing natural fibers so it's better for you to breathe in and better on your skin. Here are some of my favorites to work with:
MOHAIR
Known as one of the most luxurious fabrics, Mohair is a soft wool that comes from Angora goat hair. There's countless benefits to upholstering your furniture in Mohair: it does not felt, it's non-irritating on sensitive skin, it's moisture wicking, and it is also very strong. Because of all these benefits, Mohair is one of the most expensive fabrics to use. If you find that upholstering your chair or settee in Mohair is a little out of your budget, it's always fun to make a throw pillow with it!
COTTON
There are really no downsides to using cotton. It's the worlds more widely used natural fiber- probably due to it being extremely soft, comfortable, and affordable! Cotton is also extremely breathable which helps the air to circulate. It's long lasting too! It resists pilling and is very durable.
SILK
Fabric with a high silk content is really stunning to have on any piece in your home. It's extremely soft with an impressive sheen. Silk is also a very strong and durable fabric so it will last you awhile if it is taken care of. Any sort of cleaning for silk should always be handled by a professional.
Stay away from fabrics that are made of more than 30% of these fibers! These synthetic fibers require a lot of chemicals to be manufactured which can be irritating for your skin and bad for the environment.
VISCOSE
A lot of manufacturers have been adding viscose to different fabrics. Viscose is an inexpensive fiber that has a stunning sheen to it and is very soft. However, it's very difficult to take care of and terrible for the environment. If you spill anything on fabric with viscose in it, it's almost impossible to clean. Viscose is very absorbent and reacts negatively to spot treatments. For example, if you were to spill some juice on a fabric with viscose, it would turn the color of the juice, and then an off-white, brown color once the spot treatment is applied. There's also a lot of toxic chemicals used in producing viscose and a lot of water waste.
ACRYLIC
Acrylic was developed as an imitation wool. It has some of the softness that wool has and is resistant to fading. However, it will pill with abrasion.
POLYESTER
There are some benefits to having some polyester in your fabric, however, I wouldn't choose a fabric that has more than 30% of it. Polyester is very durable, resistant to shrinking and wrinkling, and very inexpensive. However, it soaks in any smell and is not breathable. If you have too much of it in a fabric it can also look very cheap.
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