Category: Domestic Fabric

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Upholstery Linen – Sourcing Luxury Upholstery Linen in the UK

Upholstery Linen
Upholstery Linen

Upholstery Linen is notoriously difficult for interior designers to source. Sourcing linens for curtains is easy enough but often linens are not woven with sufficient strength to score Martindale results that are high enough to warrant using the fabric for upholstery.

Some suppliers can be a little evasive and will quote the weight of the linen as a measure of the linen’s quality. The implication is that the higher the weight the better suited the fabric will be for upholstery. There is some truth in that implication but you cannot say for certain that high-weight linen is inherently suitable for upholstery. Get the Martindale!

Most KOTHEA luxury upholstery linens have inherent Martindale rub tests of around 20,000 rubs with one range further strengthened to 85,000 rubs for contract usage – 20,000 Martindale being eminently suitable for domestic upholstery.

Furthermore, when buying upholstery- (or curtain-) linen you need to know whether or not it will shrink when washed. Linen ALWAYS shrinks. So what you have to find out is whether or not it has been pre-shrunk before you buy it. A common way of pre-shrinking linen is through the sanforisation process.

Click To Read More Interior Design Articles
Click To Read More Interior Design Articles

Here are the details of our new 2011 upholstery linens that are named Recline, Relax and Restful. We have many others, these are just the new ones:

Name: Recline

Usage: Luxury Contract Upholstery

Colourways: 24

Width:   135cm

Comp:  54% Li 35% Co 11% Pa

Weight: >350g/m2

Notes:   Martindale >85,000

Request Samples

Name: Relax

Usage: Luxury Domestic Upholstery

Colourways: 24

Width:  135cm

Comp: 100% Li

Weight: >265 g/m2

Notes:   Martindale >15,000

Request Samples

Name: Restful

Usage: Heavyweight Luxury Domestic Upholstery

Colourways: 4

Width:  135cm

Comp: 100% Li

Weight: >470 g/m2

Notes:   Martindale >45,000

Request Samples

 

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Black Velvet – Even Better Italian Silk Velvet In Black

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

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Moleskin Upholstery Fabric

Moleskin Upholstery FabricMoleskin Fabric is an unusual fabric for upholstery, usually associated with clothing. KOTHEA moleskin is a premium moleskin specifically designed for upholstery with Martindale Rubs between 20,000 and 30,000. Moleskin is often a blend of cotton and linen; however KOTHEA‘s 100% cotton moleskin is extremely tightly woven ensuring that a luxurious look and feel is guaranteed. The overall look is similar to suede yet more exclusive and durable.

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Cashmere Throws – Luxury Refined From KOTHEA

Cashmere is the most exclusive wool practically available for interiors use. It is sometimes called Pashmina, and a few other things, but essentially Cashmere is what the wool really is and it rarely comes from Kashmir!

There are one or two wools that are possibly ‘better’ (ie warmer or softer) but they are extremely expensive (such as Vicuna). They are SO expensive and ‘rare’ that you will never come across them in reality unless you work in a very niche area of the fashion fabrics market. I have never even heard about such fabrics being available for interiors use, let alone seen or touched them. Although I would imagine it would not be dissimilar from cashmere!

Which brings me back to Cashmere Throws.

Maybe you already have a Cashmere Throw, or possibly a Cashmere scarf. They feel wonderful. It is not just marketing hype either, there are a variety of technical reasons why the Cashmere yarn makes fabrics that are warmer and softer to the touch than any other woolen yarn.

Yet there remains a huge variation in price from one Cashmere throw to the next. Why?

We have struggled to answer that question ourselves. Cashmere Throws can retail at £2,000. Yet the quality is only very good. Scarves too can easily cost several hundreds of pounds (and upwards).

So we are about to release Cashmere Throws that are better than everyone else. We are using: higher quality, thicker yarns than anyone else; sourcing our own designs, qualities and colours from the best mills.

I can guarantee that if you put one of our throws next to any competing alternative you would always choose a KOTHEA Cashmere Throw. We would even let our competitor choose the criteria that they wish to compete on! We are SO confident that our throws win on all counts.

Or you could go and buy one for £2,000 from somewhere else and be unsure that you have the best.

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The Cigarette & Match Tests BS 5852

For comprehensive guides to the main UK fire standards for interior fabrics, see: BS 5852 Crib 5: A Complete Guide for Interior Designers and Specifiers and FR Treatment, BS 7176, and the Crib 5 Test.

No fabric company can self-certify the fire retardancy of their fabrics. Certification can only be issued by a UKAS-accredited test laboratory.

The following is a summary of fire retardancy requirements by application. For detailed advice on current legislative requirements, consult a specialist fire testing laboratory or your local fire officer.

Domestic

Curtains. No fire treatment is required for domestic curtains.

Upholstery. The fabric must pass the match test (BS 5852 Source 1). The designer must first confirm the fabric passes the cigarette test (BS 5852 Source 0). The cigarette test meets the equivalent European standard BS EN 1021-1. The match test meets BS EN 1021-2. Fabrics containing at least 75% natural fibre content do not usually require treating for the cigarette test, but a Schedule 3 fire-retardant interliner must be used.

Contract

Curtains. The fabric must be treated to BS 5867 Part 2 Type B. Some fabrics meet this standard inherently; most require treatment. Some fabrics cannot be treated to this standard.

Upholstery. The fabric must be treated to BS 5852 Source 5 (Crib 5). This typically involves the fabric being back-coated, and most fabrics can be treated in this way. BS 7176 covers BS 5852 and additionally includes the cigarette and match tests and a water-soak requirement.

Other Applications

Headboards, bed covers, wall coverings, yacht interiors, and aviation interiors may have differing requirements. Confirm the applicable standard with the relevant authority before specifying.

There is broad equivalence between British and European standards. Standards for the United States are different and should be confirmed separately for any project with US compliance requirements.

Request Samples

Order cutting samples of any fabric from our current collections. Trade accounts only.

Order Cuttings
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Cashmere Throws

Cashmere Throws are about as good as you can get.

We are in the advanced stages of launching a substantial new range of bespoke Cashmere Throws with standard and custom sizes; custom colours and great standard designs and colourways. Quite a big leap ahead of many companies, certainly in the UK.

We will be introducing new yarns of a higher ply rating than any we know to be available in the UK, offering the thickest and most luxurious feel.

We already have exquisite hand-woven linen throws and are considering other yarns for throws like Chenille.

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Vicuna Silk Velvet (Vicugna) – Better Than Cashmere Silk Velvet?

Silk Velvet Fabric Upholstery Fabric Martindale Rub TestCashmere 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 woollen 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 opportunity 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

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 Continue reading “Velvet”

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Upholstery Curtain Cushion Domestic Textured Weave

LONDON, England. 02-NOVEMBER-2009 11.30 AM: KOTHEA today announced it has expanded its collections of residential textured weaves to include KOSHAZAM. KOSHAZAM has a striking and complex design which challenges the aesthetic intellect of the most discerning designers.

KOSHAZAM
Reference: 03-037-262
Colour Shown: Red Flower
Other colourways: 4
Width: 138cm
Repeat: 72cm
Composition: Mix
Primary Usage: Domestic curtains and
upholstery.
Type of fabric: Textured weave

About KOTHEA.

KOTHEA are a top-market fabric house based in Continue reading “Upholstery Curtain Cushion Domestic Textured Weave”

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Making cushions

Making Cushions
Making Cushions

Making cushions can be trickier than you might think. For consistent, professional results we have our cushions made up by Tricia Tucker at www.softfurnishing.co.uk if you want instructions on how to make up cushions yourself then you could start by looking here www.alternative-windows.com/cushionindex.htm.