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jimandanne_mi

Sherrill grade 8, 80% rayon 20% poly, wear medium cleanability SW

jimandanne_mi
14 years ago

Would you get this fabric for living room chairs? Ideally, there would have been a mix of some other synthetics, and a wearability of heavy. Wearability of "medium" doesn't tell me much, other than indicating that relative to "heavy", it will not last as long! How does the industry determine wearability, and is it the same from manufacturer to manufacturer? What does "cleanability SW" mean?

The fabric has a very fine (1/4") overall pattern and the color is a burgundy/rust. We have looked at LOTS of fabrics, and this seems to be the only one that works with our many colors and patterns in the living room. I know very little about furniture and upholstery, since I've bought mostly used furniture (good quality) at garage sales earlier in my life. I'm most concerned about this dark color, with 80% rayon, showing wear early on. Any rayon clothing I used to buy wore out at the seams quicker than anything else I ever owned. Should I be concerned about the Grade 8, or would that likely be because it is one color and a simple pattern?

Any insight you can offer in helping us to decide if we should buy the Sherrill chairs with this fabric will be greatly appreciated.

Anne

Comments (3)

  • bobismyuncle
    14 years ago

    SW means you can clean it with either solvent(S) or water(W) based cleaners.

    "Wearabilty" is usually measured by some type of "rub test" such as the Wyzenbeek Test. Fabric is pulled taut and rubbed in both the warp and filling directions, using a piece of cotton duck fabric as the abradant. The number of cycles, or double rubs, endured before the fabric shows "noticeable wear" is counted and determines the fabric's abrasion rating. Generally, somewhere there will be a rating such as "80,000 double rubs."

    Grade is an indication of price, nothing else.

    I don't know what the weave is, but rayon chenille is very prone to matting and to water damage. (See link)

    Here is a link that might be useful: Cleaning chenille

  • jimandanne_mi
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Many thanks for the info and the link. It's difficult to tell if this fabric is a chenille; in some ways I can see where it might be, but it's not obvious like most chenilles. It does remind me of a very short velvet, so I can see what you mean about matting and water damage. I'll have to think about this and research some more.

    Anne

  • jimandanne_mi
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    I got some more fabric samples. One is 100% polyester, and the others are over 50% acrylic and over 40% poly. Would these be better than the rayon/poly combination of fibers mentioned above? Do I need to be concerned about pilling on the more recent versions of acrylic?

    Anne