The Velvet Saga: A Cautionary Tale

It all started about five years ago when I was scouring Craigslist for the perfect pair of vintage swivel club chairs. Ah, the thrill of the hunt! I found the chairs and then set out on a mission to find the perfect fabric to reupholster them. That’s when I stumbled upon a remnant bolt of blush Ralph Lauren silk velvet fabric at our local fabric store. It was love at first sight – the color, the luxurious feel, the sheen. I had to have it, no matter the cost.

The salespeople assured me that this fabric would hold up beautifully as an upholstery fabric, so I confidently shelled out several hundred pounds and couldn’t wait to see the finished product. A month later, when I went to pick up the chairs, the upholsterer had a rather unsettling revelation: this fabric was a bit tricky to work with. As I quickly discovered, silk velvet is very temperamental, challenging to clean without professional help, and prone to getting crushed.

Lesson Learned the Hard Way

In the subsequent five years, I’ve become a pro at strategically draping throw blankets to hide the stains and crushed areas of the fabric. All in all, the chairs are still beautiful, but in retrospect, I definitely would have chosen a different upholstery fabric – one that was designed for longevity and durability. Reupholstery is not an inexpensive endeavor, so choosing the right fabric can significantly improve the investment and the long-term appearance of the piece.

The Sofa Saga: Redemption

Fast forward to earlier this year, when I scored the perfect beaten-up vintage Baker sofa for our living room – for all of £80! I knew we were going to be reupholstering this sofa, and I wasn’t going to repeat my past mistake of not choosing an upholstery fabric designed for the long haul. So I went to the showroom of one of my favorite fabric houses, Fabricut, and started looking through all their options, keeping a few key criteria in mind.

Choosing the Right Performance Fabric

A performance fabric is one that has been specially treated to hold up better than your standard upholstery fabrics. These fabrics are generally less likely to stain and are designed for durability. One challenge, however, is that not all performance fabrics look luxurious and elevated. That microfiber velvet you often see on retail sofas is a performance fabric, but it can sometimes lack that special, high-end look.

The key is to be really discerning when selecting performance fabrics, ensuring that they still have the aesthetic you’re going for, even though they’re engineered for longevity. As a professional upholsterer and member of the National Upholstery Association, I’ve learned that paying attention to the “double rubs” count can be a great indicator of a fabric’s durability. The higher the number, the more abrasion the fabric can withstand before breaking down.

For a frequently used piece like a sofa, you’ll want to look for a fabric with at least 15,000 double rubs. Commercial-grade fabrics generally have 30,000 double rubs or higher. Another important consideration is how the fabric can be cleaned. Read up on the cleaning instructions and care codes to ensure the fabric will be easy to maintain in your daily life.

The Winning Fabric

I knew from the get-go that I wanted a luxurious velvet in an olive-y green for reupholstering this sofa. For years, I had been saving images of green sofas and kept finding myself drawn to the warmer, richer tones. At the Fabricut showroom, I honed in on three different dark, warm green velvet fabrics and brought the swatches home to see how they looked in the space.

One trick with velvets is that they can look quite different in various lighting conditions, so make sure you like the swatch both vertically and horizontally. My winning fabric was the Fabricut Baird in Olive – appropriately named, and here’s why:

• It has a superb double rubs count of 50,000, ensuring it can withstand the wear and tear of daily use.
• The care instructions indicate that it can be cleaned with water-based agents, making it easy to maintain.
• The color is a warm, rich olive that complements the vintage character of the Baker sofa perfectly.
• The luxurious velvet pile elevates the overall look and feel, giving the sofa a custom, high-end aesthetic.

The Sofa Saga Continues

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that we’ve been using our newly reupholstered sofa every day for the past month. I wanted to make sure I had a good handle on how the fabric was meeting our expectations before sharing, and I’m pleased to say that it looks as good as new. We’ve had a few small, minor stains that have lifted easily with a bit of water, and otherwise, you can’t tell that we tend to lounge in the same spot constantly.

Our living room is still a work in progress, but I can’t wait to build the space around this gorgeous new sofa. Isn’t she a beauty? I hope the lessons I’ve learned in my reupholstery journey can help you avoid the same mistakes I made during my first go-round. And if you’re looking for more inspiration, be sure to check out Sofas Spectacular – they have some truly stunning custom sofa options that are just begging to be dressed in the perfect fabric.