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A Guide to Understanding Fabric Grades for Furniture
November 15, 2023
Whether you’re looking at buying new furniture or giving new life to existing pieces, choosing the right upholstery fabric can seem daunting. With so many options like woven fabrics, leather, microfibre, and more, it can be overwhelming to decide which material is best suited for your furniture.
That's where understanding fabric grades comes in. Fabric grades provide insight into a material's expected performance and durability. This makes selecting the perfect upholstery or reupholstery fabrics easier.
We explore the upholstery grading system to help you confidently pick the best textiles for covering furniture.
The Lowdown on Fabric Grades
Upholstery fabrics are categorised into grades that indicate their durability and recommended uses. The grading system ranks fabrics on a scale from light domestic use to heavy commercial use.
Light Domestic Use
These fabrics are delicate materials like silks, linens, and lightweight cottons best suited for accent furniture that sees minimal wear and tear, such as side chairs or stools. These fabrics need gentle cleaning and are not suitable for furniture that gets heavy use.
Medium Domestic Use
Medium domestic use fabrics work well for everyday residential use on furniture in low-traffic areas of homes. These all-purpose fabrics include cotton/polyester blends and durable, tightly woven fabrics. They are more sturdy and resilient than light domestic fabrics.
Heavy Domestic Use
Fabrics in this category are designed to withstand frequent intensive use in high-traffic living areas and on kid- and pet-friendly furniture. These heavy-duty fabrics include microfibres, vinyls, and polyester blends that are extremely durable and abrasion-resistant.
Commercial Use
Commercial use fabrics can withstand constant, intensive use in commercial settings like hotels, offices, or restaurants. Though unnecessary for home use, commercial grade fabrics are incredibly hard-wearing and meet legal standards for flame retardancy and safety.
Understanding these categories helps gauge how much wear and abrasion furniture upholstery can handle.
What Fabric Grades Are Not
Understanding furniture fabric grades is crucial, but it's equally important to know what they are not. Fabric grades aren't universal standards and can vary significantly among manufacturers. For example, one company's grading scale might range from A to F, another's could go from A to J, and a third could use a numerical scale of 1 to 5.
This inconsistency means an 'A' grade fabric from one company may not match the quality or durability of an 'A' grade from another. As a result, when choosing upholstery fabrics, consider factors like fabric type, durability, and suitability for your needs rather than relying solely on the fabric grade.
Factors That Determine Fabric Grades
Several factors determine where a fabric lands on the grading scale. Key aspects include:
Fibre Content
Natural fibres like cotton, linen, wool, and silk have inherent strengths and weaknesses. For example, linen is quite durable but prone to wrinkling, and wool is tough but the fibres may pill with friction.
Synthetic fabrics, on the other hand, are engineered to be wrinkle-resistant, stain-proof, and highly durable.
Fabric Weave
The tightness of the weave impacts strength and durability. A fabric with a tighter weave and higher thread count per square inch creates a denser, more resilient material.
Special Finishes
Special finishes can also enhance performance, like stain-resistant coatings or acrylic backings that improve stability. In addition, fire retardant treatments are mandatory for commercial grade fabrics.
Fabric Weight and Thickness
Heavier, thicker fabrics tend to withstand wear and tear better than lighter-weight fabrics that are prone to pilling and tearing.
Abrasion Resistance
Abrasion-resistance testing like the Martindale rub test helps assess durability by simulating extended use. It measures the number of rubs a fabric can withstand before showing noticeable wear. The higher the Martindale rating, the more durable the material.
Considering all these factors provides a good indication of where a fabric should be graded for upholstery use.
Fabrics to Avoid for Upholstery
Some fabrics are too lightweight or delicate for upholstery and won't stand up well to furniture use:
- Very light materials like voile and muslin tear easily and wrinkle
- Loose weaves like crochet or lace snag easily and unravel with use
- Fabrics with special finishes like glitter, sequins, or appliques can crack or peel with friction
- Natural fabrics like silk satin are too delicate and require special care
- Materials that are dry clean only, like rayon velvet or embroidered textiles, are high maintenance and challenging for DIYers
I Want Fabric: Your Ultimate Upholstery Destination
Choosing the perfect upholstery fabric is a critical decision that affects not only the look and feel of your furniture but its durability and longevity as well. By understanding fabric grades and their implications, you can be confident that your fabric choice will stand the test of time.
Refresh cherished antiques or reimagine tired armchairs with I Want Fabric’s wide selection of high-quality upholstery fabrics, tools, and sewing supplies. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, we have you covered with the fabric selections, expert guidance, and inspiration you need to bring your furniture visions to life.