Furniture Fabric Changing?

[baileyuph]

There seemingly been a trend in furniture fabrics and that is they are thinner, a lot fray easier, seem more synthetic and probably more than I am saying.

All this compared to the denser heavier weaves we use to put on furniture.  

Just wondering if it is like a lot of other products,  US textiles are on their way down and the business is off shore; suggesting everything is about price?

In working with materials, those I have been working with recently (few years) seem to have become more cheaply made.

Any thoughts are reports on current fabrics.  What started to bringing these thoughts up is my heavy walking foot machines seem like an overkill for the fabrics being used, not like the period when heavy materials were used for family rooms and nice antiques  and tapestries went together.  

Everything is much thinner.  Or is it just the cheaper fabrics are what sells due to price?

Doyle

[sofadoc]

What started to bringing these thoughts up is my heavy walking foot machines seem like an overkill for the fabrics being used......

I actually experienced more "overkill" back in the late 80's when polished cottons were all the rage. What really compounded the problem, was that COM customers bought the thin cottons from discount seconds stores. They had no finish coating. They would ravel and shrink easily, and spraying with Scotchguard would only stain them.

I acquired a non-WF machine just for sewing thin cottons. As soon as I did, the thin stuff stopped coming in.

But yeah, nowadays I'm sewing less thick fabrics.......also sewing fewer thin fabrics. It's all kinda "met in the middle".

[gene]

Also, fabrics that used to be labeled "Drapery" are now labeled "Upholstery/Drapery". What ever it takes to get a sale.  :o

In general, I see 15,000 rub count being touted as awesome, great wearing, heavy duty upholstery grade fabric. If I remember correctly, 10 years ago 50,000 rub count seamed to be a minimum for upholstery weight fabric.

I wonder if the "meet in the middle" is because a less broad range of fabrics are being made???

One of the fun parts of working with high end Interior Designers is the awesome quality of those types of fabrics. I would love to only work with these kinds of fabrics, but, beggars can't be choosers.

gene

[baileyuph]

I hear you loud and clear on fabric uses today.  It sort of takes a lot of fun out of the work.  I would like to be good enough to work for a designer who sold stuff I like to work with (I guess all that is true, LOL).

[MinUph]

We work with several designers and their fabrics are both extremely nice and extremely terrible to work with. A few of the high end ones do offer high end fabrics but some of those are a challenge to work with also.

[baileyuph]

Wish I knew what a designer was when it comes to reupholstery.  At the manufacturing level, it is easier to understand the title.

Some, I have encountered know little about quality of furniture and/or fabrics. 

The field they work in - assisting consumers with decorating their furniture or- isn't really lucrative enough unless they have a lot going to separate them from the crowd, it seems.

Doyle

[sofadoc]

I think decorators prefer the term "designer" just because it sounds more expensive.

Just like a used car dealer prefers to use the term "Pre-owned".

[chrisberry12]

A designer is a project manager and is schoole in every aspect of a building, heat, electric, plumbing, carpentry and upholstery is a tiny part of their job. They get all the awesome fabrics because they are licensed. A Decorator is just that, one who decorats a house, might buy furniture, lamps, vase, flowers but is not licensed to work as a designer. There is a huge difference therefore their quality of fabrics are very much different.mI work with both but mostly interior designers and with that some reall cool and expensive fabrics and usually really nice to work with. I am working with an embroidered silk right now, heavy like sail cloth. Love being on the coast because most everything is solid whites, not much matching lol. I do get some but love the plain linens, flax, and other natural fibers however these are mostly 5000-10,000 rubs. Have you notice the average uph. fabric used to be about $30 a yard in 2001 and now the average is $50  for us upholsters to sell. Most of the designer fabrics I work with are well over $300 a yard. The silk I am working with right now is $395 a yard.