Buying a sofa is one of the most important investments you can make when furnishing your home. Choosing a design is only half the battle, however, with a huge range of fabric colours, styles and materials to choose from. To help you understand the choices a little better we’ve created this handy fabric care guide with all the information you need.

Choosing Your Furniture

When choosing your new furniture, it’s important to appreciate that different materials will have different features and benefits. To help you understand what to expect, we have put together basic information on the types of materials available.

Fabric Materials

  • Calico – Calico fabric is a type of plain-woven textile made from unprocessed and unbleached cotton.
  • Chenille – Chenille is made from cotton, silk, rayon or wool. It has a velvety texture and is susceptible to pile crushing and shading.
  • Damask – Damask fabric is a Jacquard-patterned fabric, which is reversible. This fabric is made of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibres.
  • Microfibre – Ultra-fine manufactured fibres using microfibre technology produce a gentle fabric with extra softness.
  • Velour/Velvet – Velour and Velvet are luxurious fabrics, traditionally made from cotton. Due to their texture, they are prone to creasing or shading.

Additional Fabric Information – Pile Crush

All fabrics are subject to a certain degree of pile crush or shading with frequent use. Pile crush occurs because the pile of a fabric has become crushed, flattened or brushed in a different direction to the natural lie of the pile. This causes light reflection at differing angles resulting in the creation of light and dark patches on the fabric. While this doesn’t detract from the wearing property of the material itself, the effect of pile crush can be minimised by regularly brushing the affected area with a soft brush and dressing the sofa.

Caring For Your Furniture

When you receive delivery of your furniture:

  • Always follow your manufacturer’s cleaning and care label instructions. For recliners, it’s important that operating and care instructions are followed closely.
  • Keep pets and sharp objects away from your suite.
  • Don’t place your furniture in direct sunlight or next to heat sources such as radiators.

Staingard Cover

After purchasing your upholstery, it’s important to consider protecting your purchase against any accidental damages/spillages. For peace of mind, we recommend you purchase Staingard Cover. Staingard provides a 5 year care guarantee, which includes a leather or fabric care kit. Staingard cover also includes a team of professional technicians that will resolve any issues you may have, that the care kit can’t take care of. Read more here.

Care and Maintenance

  • Purchase protective arm caps where possible as this is the area most likely to show wear.
  • Sitting on the front edges of cushions or on the arms of furniture may cause distortion or damage.
  • Reversible seat and back cushions should be turned weekly and plumped up to maintain their shape.
  • To avoid damaging your fabric suite, if you spill something on it, simply act quickly and mop up excess liquid with a clean white cloth. Do not use detergents or rub the spillages into the fabric.
  • Fringes and ruching should be treated with care, especially when vacuuming.
  • Plump your cushions at the end of every day of use, particularly those filled with feather or fibre.
  • When moving your furniture, lift the sofa or chair by their base to protect the frames. Do not pull the sofas by the arms.
  • Non-colourfast clothing such as denim can stain lightly coloured fabrics.
  • We recommend cleaning your upholstery at least once a year. Clean all parts of a suite together, as slight colour changes can sometimes occur.
  • To protect your hard flooring from possible marking, MagiGlide floor protectors are available at an additional price.

For more information on our fabric care guide please contact us.