Fabric Tips #12: Rolling a velvet
Posted: 14 February, 2011 Filed under: Contract Fabric, Curtain Fabric, Domestic Fabric, Fabric Design, Production & Details, Fabric Tips, interior design, interior designer, Upholstery, Upholstery Fabric | Tags: contract fabric, contract fabrics, curtain fabric, domestic fabric, domestic fabrics, fabric, Fabric Tips, fabrics, interior design, linen velvet, mohair velvet, mohair velvets, silk, silk velvets, Textile, textured upholstery fabric, Upholstery, upholstery fabric, velvet 4 Comments »
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You’ve just ordered a new velvet and unrolled it to admire your purchase. But how do you re-roll it?
When you roll almost any fabric you should have the face on the inside. With a velvet this is the pile so you have the pile on the inside.
Some, but not all, velvet piles stand straight up others will ‘lay down’. for the former it does not matter which way you then roll the fabric (provided the pile is on the inside). However for typically longer pile which lays down (ie you can brush it flat with your hand in one direction only) then you should roll the fabric down the pile as you return it to its roll.
Hopefully that made sense. Good luck.
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Mohair Velvet & Other Velvets
Posted: 6 February, 2011 Filed under: Contract Fabric, Domestic Fabric, Fabric Design, Production & Details, interior design, interiordesign, interiors, modern interiors, Product Comments, Upholstery Fabric | Tags: mohair velvet, mohair velvets, silk velvet, silk velvets, upholstery fabric, upholstery linen, velvet, velvet upholstery, velvets 5 Comments »
Mohair Velvet is a type of fabric made from Mohair Wool. It is usually used for upholstery. A velvet is a fabric that is made in a certain way usually ending up with a pile; importantly it can be made from many different fibres including mixtures of fibres.
Mohair Velvet – A velvet made from natural Mohair Wool. Typically durable with high Martindale rub test results. Natural fibres give a degree of inherent fire retardancy.
Cotton velvet – A velvet made from natural cotton
Linen Velvet – a velvet made from natural linen typically an excellent domestic upholstery velvet.
Silk Velvet – Potentially beautiful and amazing velvet fabric made from silk but a high degree of quality variation across manufacturers.
CS Trevira – Made from synthetic Trevira. Excellent contract velvet.
Cashmere Silk Velvet – Extremely high quality luxury fabric. Mix of two natural fibres ie Cashmere Wool and Silk. Combines beauty with durability.
Vicuna Silk Velvet – Extremely high quality and rare luxury fabric. Rarely available as an interiors fabric.
Cotton & Silk Velvet – A less expensive way to strengthen the beauty of the silk with the strength of cotton. Cotton being cheaper than Cashmere wool for example!
Note also that a velvet is made with a back cloth material. It is not unusual for an extremely fine top market velvet to have a 100% cotton back cloth.
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Black Velvet – Even Better Italian Silk Velvet In Black
Posted: 22 September, 2010 Filed under: Domestic Fabric, home decor, interior, interior design, interior designer, interiordesign, interiors, modern homes, modern interiors, Upholstery, Upholstery Fabric | Tags: contemporary fabric, domestic fabric, domestic fabrics, mohair velvet, mohair velvets, silk velvet, silk velvets, textured upholstery fabric, upholstery fabric, upholstry fabric, velvet, velvet upholstery, velvets 4 Comments »
Black Velvet – only to be enjoyed by those who appreciate that black is the new black! KOTHEA have a range of velvets with shades of black colourways in most of those velvet collections.
“Black Diamond” is the colourway name for the Italian Silk Velvet (100% Silk Pile) with the code 777-108-900.
You can get black silk velvet samples here from KOTHEA if you are a trade professional. Just click the link.
KOTHEA velvets are the best in the market. We only sell top market fabrics, mostly to top European Interior Designers and Architects. Here are some more bits of technical information on our black Italian Silk velvet fabric:
Width: 140cm
Composition: 100% Silk Pile
No repeat, plain.
Abrasion: Martindale 20,000.
Available from stock, normal delivery within 5 days.
Minimum Order length: 2m
Silk Velvet Production Problems
Posted: 8 July, 2010 Filed under: Companies | Tags: silk velvet, silk velvets, velvet, velvets Leave a comment »We have recently had to change most of our Velvet production to mills in Europe. Along with some other fabric companies, we have been experiencing quality issues with Chinese produced silk velvet. It’s probably only happening at one or two mills but it has been a big headache for us as we have had to return some significant orders due to less than perfect quality issues. And it’s sometimes hard to get the mills to accept returns that are of OK quality but not excellent.
Anyway, just a heads-up. Check where your silk velvet is being manufactured and double check the quality.
Vicuna Silk Velvet (Vicugna) – Better Than Cashmere Silk Velvet?
Posted: 29 June, 2010 Filed under: Domestic Fabric, Upholstery, Upholstery Fabric | Tags: contemporary fabric, domestic fabrics, silk velvet, silk velvets, velvet, velvets 3 Comments »Cashmere Silk Velvet is one of the world’s most luxurious fabrics. But is it THE most luxurious? Now this is a good question! and a little tricky to answer.
Perhaps the most expensive yarn is from the vicuña (vicuna, vicugna), which is a camel-like animal found in the high alpine areas of the South American Andes. Whilst not an endangered species it is a rare animal and difficult to farm as it tends to escape!
Cashmere yarn comes from the cashmere goat and other goats such as the pashmina goat.
Cashmere and Vicuna have an outer layer of hair which is coarse and rough but protective for the animal. This is the guard hair. Underneath the guard hair is a warm layer of much, much softer hair. This underlayer consists of hollow-fibred hair that is an excellent insulator. The vicuna has the finest of these fibres of any (resultant) wool anywhere in the world.
About 400g of yarn can be produced from one Vicuna compared to 150g from the Cashmere goat, the latter being a smaller animal. There are many more Cashmere goats in the world and I suspect this is why Cashmere is relatively affordable – as it is produced in much larger volumes in a more competitive market.
As an indication a Vicuna scarf would cost in excess of US$1000. As far as I know it is not produced in sufficient quantities to be available in a suitable form for interiors use (I could be wrong). But if it were it could be woven with silk to produce THE MOST EXPENSIVE AND BEST woolen silk velvet in the world. A further problem is that the Vicuna fibre can readily be damaged when dyed, again making significant production quantities problematic.
Now, as much of the Cashmere yarn produced comes from China, Australia and other countries…in fact just about anywhere other than Kasmir! it strikes me that is an opporutnity waiting to happen for some illustrious, economically-minded, goat breeder out there with friends in the textiles industry. If the production problems could be overcome I could see that there still would be a market for an interiors fabric retailing at in excess of GBP800/m (US£1300/yard) – albeit a small one.
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Velvet
Posted: 8 January, 2010 Filed under: Contract Fabric, Domestic Fabric, Product Comments, Upholstery, Upholstery Fabric | Tags: contract fabrics, linen velvet, mohair velvet, mohair velvets, silk velvet, silk velvets, textured upholstery fabric, upholstery fabric, upholstry fabric, velvet, velvets 1 Comment »Velvets have become increasingly popular over the last 5 years. Both residential and contract usage of velvets have increased tremendously. Having been produced for hundreds of years velvets never seem to have lost the attention of discerning designers.
Interior Designers are often interested in the properties and manufacture of velvet – the two being necessarily related. The depth of the pile, the durability of the finish, the ease of maintaining the beautiful finish.
Velvet is made in one of two ways – cut or uncut:
1. Cut pile
a. Here the loom is configured to Read the rest of this entry »
Velvet Fabrics by KOTHEA include Mohair Velvet, Cotton Velvet, Linen Velvet
Posted: 18 August, 2009 Filed under: Contract Fabric, Domestic Fabric, Upholstery Fabric | Tags: interior design, mohair velvet, mohair velvets, silk velvet, silk velvets, velvet, velvet upholstery, velvets 1 Comment »
Velvet Fabric Includes Mohair Velvet
Velvet Fabrics by KOTHEA include Mohair Velvet, Cotton Velvet, Linen Velvet & silk velvet. The most popular being mohair velvet the most luxurious being Cashmere Silk Velvet.
KOTHEA was asked “what is the difference between cotton velvet and mohair velvet upholstery fabric”.
More of an explanation about velvet is given here – essentially ‘velvet’ is the finish arrived at by a specific production process. That process can be applied to many fibres. Mohair usually refers to a silk-like fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat and cotton is a natural fibre that grows from the cotton plant.
This blog contains lots of posts on velvets both from: an explanatory point of view; a marketing/sales point of view; and a usage point of view – hopefully something for everyone. You can use the search tools to the right to find out more. Please feel free to ask questions.
The Durability Of Silk Velvet For Upholstery
Posted: 12 May, 2009 Filed under: Product Comments | Tags: domestic fabric, domestic fabrics, silk, silk fabric, silk fabrics, silk velvet, silk velvets, textured upholstery fabric, upholstry fabric, velvets 2 Comments »The durability depends on quite a few things: the tightness of the weave; thickness/strength of the yarn & fabric; back-cloth composition and strength; and so on.
Essentially you need to look at the Martindale or Rub Test result for the specific fabric in question. Two silk velvets can be quite different.
As with all velvets a proper cleaning regime is important to extend the life of the fabric.
One of KOTHEA’s silk velvets has a rub test/Martindale of 25,000. This is more than adequate for general upholstery.
Linen Velvet
Posted: 8 May, 2009 Filed under: Product Comments | Tags: cotton velvet, linen, linen velvet, mohair velvet, silk velvet, silk velvets 3 Comments »KOTHEA were recently asked if any fabric companies still made linen velvet.
Yes. We do. Ours has a 100% linen pile and a Martindale of 20,000 making it suitable for upholstery and curtains.
We sell other velvets including; mohair velvet; silk velvet; cashmere silk velvet; cotton velvet and linen velvet.
BS7176 BS5852 Crib 5 - A Guide
Fabric Tips #13: Velvet Curtain Making
Posted: 14 February, 2011 | Author: Nathalie Arrigone | Filed under: Curtain Fabric, Fabric Tips, interior design, interior designer | Tags: contemporary fabric, contract fabric, contract fabrics, cotton velvet, curtain, curtain fabric, domestic fabric, domestic fabrics, fabric, Fabric Tips, ideas for designers, interior design, linen velvet, Mohair, mohair velvets, silk velvet, silk velvets, textured upholstery fabric, upholstry fabric, velvet, velvets | 3 Comments »Image by tenz1225 via Flickr
Here are some additional pointers to consider when you are making a curtain using a velvet. Remember that a velvet is just a type of fabric and the fibre(s) that the velvet is made from is important.
So for example we would always recommend that you line a curtain. This gives a superior appearance but also reduced the amount of light going through the fabric hence limiting as much as possible the effect of any fading.
If the velvet has a pile that can be flattened in one direction then we would recommend that you have the pile going downwards for SHINY velvet fabrics and PATTERNED VELVETS.
If however you make up the curtain with the pile upwards then this will deepen the colour so you cold make the curtains this way for cotton velvets and Trevira Velvet and Mohair velvets.
These are general guidelines and it is not necessarily wrong if you make up the curtain ‘the other way’ just so long as you understand the implications to the finished look and performance of the material.
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