Whether you choose Covers or Re-Upholstery, what you will actually be looking at on your finished furniture is the fabric - so it's important to get it right.
The main issues you should consider when choosing a fabric are:
- Design & Colour
- Durability
- Washability or cleaning
- Safety (fire retardancy)
Design & Colour
You probably know what colour and you want, and whether you want a plain or patterned fabric.
However bear in mind that not every fabric:
- Is suitable for your furniture
- Is suitable for Covers or Re-Upholstery
- Complies with safety regulations
When furniture manufacturers put together their range of furniture and fabrics they will have selected fabrics which are suitable for that particular design of furniture. When you re-cover your furniture you will have to make the same choices. The things to look out for are:
Scale of pattern – you don’t want too large a pattern on a small chair or sofa, although a small scale pattern on a large piece often looks fine.
Likewise a sofa with a very large plain back can look sparse if you change from a pattern to a perfectly plain fabric, although scatter cushions on a plain sofa can be used to dramatic effect.
Seams are also an important thing to bear in mind when changing from patterned to plain. You may be surprised to find that there are seams in the furniture that you've had for years but which you hadn't noticed before because they were disguised by a pattern, but which are now noticeable in a plain fabric. So have a good look at your furniture first.
Another important design issue is ‘shading’ of fabrics. With fabrics which have a ‘pile’ - that is velvets and chenilles, when light strikes the pile at different angles you get different degrees of reflection and so you get lighter or darker shades of the underlying colour. This may be particularly noticeable where the pile gets crushed on the seats and arms. This shading is of course a major part of its appeal along with the soft and luxurious feel, and what sets it apart from a flat plain fabric – but you do need to be aware of this feature.
It is also important that a fabric is actually suitable for Covers or Re-Upholstery. That is it has the required ‘give’ to go round curves and can be sewn without the seam coming apart under strain (seam slippage) and that it can take the strain of being pulled and stapled for upholstery.
When choosing a patterned fabric – and bold patterns are increasingly popular, find out how it will be applied to the furniture. If its an ‘all-over’ pattern without any dominant elements it will probably be cut randomly. However if it has dominant design elements such as a central flower or flowing design, these elements may be centralized, or be at the same height horizontally or as with stripes, matched vertically.
Printed fabrics…Did you know?..There are three main ways of printing fabrics Vat Dyed, Pigment Print and Transfer Print. Vat dyed means the colours are chemically bonded throughout the cloth. When the cloth is first printed the colours are not the same as will finally appear. When the cloth is finished, the heat in the process changes the chemicals in the dyes which bond to the fibres. (you can spot a Vat Dyed print because the print pushes right through to the back of the cloth). With Pigment print, the dyes are the final colour when printed and tend to stay nearer the surface. Transfer prints are where the design is printed on paper then it is transferred by heat to the cloth – giving a surface print (like T-shirts).
Durability
A covering on a seat or exposed arm takes a lot of punishment.
Standards have been set for the amount of abrasion a particular piece of cloth can take and this is measured with the ‘Martindale’ test and normally expressed as a number of ‘rubs’ e.g. 15,000 rubs. The test involves rubbing pieces of fabric together in small circles in a Martindale test machine (each circle is a 'rub) until noticeable signs of wear are observed at which point the test is stopped and the reading taken. It’s not as an exact science as it may appear, but it does give a fair estimate of a fabric's likely performance in service.'
For ease of use this, along with other information is then expressed as a usability classification: General Domestic, Severe Domestic, Contract etc. Any fabric you look at should have this classification as a guide.
Do however bear in mind your individual use of the furniture. A person may buy a chair new and use it for a few hours in the evening and this would probably be classed as General Domestic use. However as they get older they may spend many hours every day in the chair and it will easily be receiving the amount of wear that furniture in a public place would have – now the use is more like Severe Domestic or Contract and this should be kept in mind when choosing suitable fabrics for re-covering or for new furniture.
Fabrics should also meet minimum standards of Light fastness. If your furniture is to be in strong sunlight it will eventually fade whatever fabric you choose. However I have found lighter colours fade less, and reds seem to be the worst for fading. While on this issue I should point one other thing that might be of interest: Some Covers are sewn up using ‘monofilament’ thread which is like fishing line – it's cheap to use as it's colourless and doesn’t require the thread to be changed on the sewing machine every time a new colour is sewn – but beware it does deteriorate rapidly in strong sunlight and your covers could fall apart!
Washing and Cleaning
One big advantage of Covers is that they can be removed for washing and cleaning, making light colours a practical proposition
However with Tailored Covers there will be very little slack, so any shrinkage will be crucial. Many fabric suppliers will label a fabric washable – what they mean is the colours will not run and it will not be damaged, but there could be considerable shrinkage. A reputable supplier of Tailored Covers will ensure that their own range of fabrics has very low or no shrinkage in order to overcome this problem.
Safety
All fabrics used for Covers must meet the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) regulations (as amended). As mentioned above, Stretch fabrics do not have to meet as high a standard as Cover and Upholstery fabrics.
The law was brought in during 1988 following the terrible fire in Manchester, and has been credited with saving over 500 lives so far and preventing thousands more injuries. The Furniture Fire Safety laws in the UK are the most stringent in the world. One constant battle the authorities have is unscrupulous importers bringing in non-fire-safe suites from abroad and selling them cheaply in the UK.
The requirement is basically that the fabric will resist a burning cigarette or match when over a flammable foam – ie the charred fabric will form a barrier protecting what is beneath. The test for Stretch fabrics is simply that it will not itself catch fire, so it melts and shrinks away (because of the stretch), exposing whatever is beneath.
For Re-Upholstery fabrics, everything supplied by the upholsterer must meet the requirements although fabrics supplied by the customer may not have to. However we would strongly advise against using non-complying materials for your own safety, and because it would significantly reduce the value of the furniture if you ever wanted to dispose of it.
Sadly in my years in the business I have come across unscrupulous businesses - usually a sole trader, who use non-fire retardant fabrics and cinically charges for proper FR fabric. Unfortunately Trading Standards admit they do not have the resources to police such activity.
Probably the best way to avoid falling into this trap is to buy fabrics from a pattern book where you can see the label, or on a properly labelled roll. Avoid having fabric which is offered to you on a roll with no labelling and is perhaps 'a nice piece left over which I can let you have at a discount'
There are three main ways that a fabric may be made fire retardant:
By the inclusion of inherently fire retardant yarns – In my opinion by far the best, as the drape, handle and usability of the fabric are unaffected. Unfortunately this is also the most expensive solution and the FR yarns are only available in a limited range of colours and textures so restricting design choice to some extent.
By Back-coating – this is where a Fire retardant coating is applied to the back of the fabric to give protection. It can sometimes make the fabric stiffer and drape less well.
A more troublesome problem occurs where a design house stocks their fabric non-FR, then has your length treated to meet the regulations. Sometimes (not always by any means) the coating is rather heavily applied so that they can be sure it will comply. This can result in a stiff and unyielding fabric which is a far cry from what you saw in the pattern book. However many pattern books these days include an example of backcoating on one of the fabrics, usually at the back of the book, so look out for these.
Where a fabric is included in a range at the ouset as back-coated, the process will have been refined due to the quantities involved, and most back-coated fabrics give an acceptable finish.
Dipping – with fabrics with a high natural fibre content they can be dipped in a chemical which bonds to the fibre and gives a feel to the fabric not much different to the original. However the chemical will alter the colour of pigments and can reduce the strength of the cloth. When we have fabrics produced for us using this method we have to beef-up the original specification to ensure the finished product is the right colour and strength.
When non-fire retardant fabric can be used:
Recognising that the fire regulations could put severe restrictions on the use of fabrics (particularly as at the time the regulations were launched the art of FR treating of fabrics was in its infancy) a provision was made for certain fabrics to be used over a 'barrier' cloth. In essence if a fabric contains over 75% natural fibres, then it need not be FR treated if the piece of furniture is upholstered first in a barrier cloth. This is a Fire Retardant cloth with a higher degree of fire resistance than that required for normal domestic furniture.
This provision was exploited when 'Shabby Chic' loose covers became all the rage - allowing the furniture manufacturer to upholster the furniture in the barrier cloth, then supply a non-fire retardant loose cover on top. As this was not the original intention of the regulations, it has lead to some interesting interpretations of the law, one of which I understand concerns replacement Loose Covers: If furniture is originally supplied upholstered in a barrier cloth with loose covers over (the label will tell you if it uses a barrier cloth) then the original manufacturer of the furniture can supply you with a replacement loose cover that is non-FR, but another supplier cannot.
There are also certain accepted practices for cushions - generally scatter cushions under 20" x 20" (50cm x 50cm) do not have to be made out of FR fabric (so you can use a curtain fabric for instance), and loose dining chair cushions also do not have to be FR - although upholstered seats on dining cushions do (complicated isn't it!) Please Note: Lynplan dining cushions are made using FR fabric.
Important: Comments about the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 (as amended) on this page and on this site are my opinion only, and no liability can be accepted for the information given. Due to it's nature the Regulations and the interpretation of them by Trading Standards are complex, so for more information and if any issue is critical to you it is important you consult the regulations themselves or the very useful guide to the regulations published by BERR (formerly the DTI).
