A blog for upholstery enthusiasts to discuss industry news, events, tips, issues, and everything important to upholstery and fabric fanatics, like us.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Clean Car Upholstery the Right Way



Car fabrics are sometimes a challenge to clean properly. In fact, experts say your should vacuum your car on a weekly basis to prevent heavy dust and grime buildup. In addition to that, once or twice per year you need to shampoo the fabrics in your car’s interior. A protective spray is also a good idea since it repels dust and stains. When spills happen, the protective spray will cause most liquids to bead up and not soak into the fabrics of your car. If your vehicle has leather upholstery, remember to use a conditioning product at least once per year.

Dust repellent for car fabrics is one of the best values in the automotive cleaning arena. Go to a parts store and ask the sales associate to look up the fabric type for your make and model. After that, buy one or two cans of the protective spray and apply it one or two times each year. For less than $20, you will be able to buy about four years’ worth of protective spray, which is an inexpensive way to keep your auto fabrics looking and smelling fresh. 

Don’t skimp on the price of a car vacuum either. These little machines are worth their weight in gold, as they prevent dust and mildew buildup on your car’s fabrics. They are lightweight, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive. 

Upholstery shampoo is another low cost way to protect fabrics. Try to get to spills and stains as soon as they happen, apply the shampoo, and use a soft brush to get the problem area clean again. Otherwise, do a complete shampoo of your upholstery about once per year. 

As you can see, most of the cleaning tasks for car fabrics need not be done very often, except for weekly vacuuming. Car upholstery care is not an arduous job, but it needs to be done if you want the fabrics to stay fresh, clean, and new looking.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Tips on Choosing Upholstery Fabric



The possibilities are endless when it comes to choosing upholstery fabric for your dining room, living room, or other home décor needs. Though the fabric choices are boundless, the best choices are ones that take into account what type of fabric you want to use and how you want to use it.

The first step in choosing upholstery fabric is knowing what you want to make out of those fabrics. Certain fabrics serve different purposes, and you would never want to use an inappropriate fabric for an item (i.e. using silk on outdoor furniture).

Synthetic materials are cheaper and they are also easier to maintain. For making sofa covers, direct your choice to very thick treated upholstery. If you are new to the field of sewing, start work on woven fabrics, otherwise it will seem more difficult.

After you have chosen a fabric, you have to measure heights and widths. Then calculate what to add to the seams and eventually folds if necessary. Upholstery fabric is available in several widths, which is why we need to calculate what you really want to use. The quality of weaving can also encourage choice as well as how much you need.

Choose fabric according to a color that will be designed. The stretch fabrics and silk are more difficult to work with. Striped colors and large print patterns will cost a little more. This is due to falling connections or patterns that are well centered which will require a higher budget. If you want to do something for the environment, there are natural fiber fabrics such as linen and cotton, for example.

Finally, if you are still unsure, take a look at what is on your furniture now. If you’ve been happy with it so far, finding something similar can be a place to start.