Top 8 cushion fabric choices: upholstery fabric 101
A comprehensive guide on choosing couch and floor cushion fabric and maake's top 8 fabric cushion covers options for your home.
One of the easiest ways to update your home is to add new cushions. Why not start with the best fabric for cushion covers? With the variety of relatively cheap fabric for home cushions on offer, you can shop till you drop!
Let's face it – it doesn't matter whether you want to invigorate a piece of furniture with new fabric, create a nook in your bedroom or make your living room stand out with funky pillow fabric.
All you need to do is make some new cushions and perhaps match them to the curtain with your fabric favourites and transform the space from drab to gorgeous in seconds.
There is a variety of plain and printed cushion fabric UK available per metre on the market. Indeed, there's a wide collection of fabric to choose from when you shop.
If you’d like an in-depth look at choosing fabrics for design, check out the informative guide we’ve put together for you, entitled The best fabric to use for decor and design. We also feature a Full Guide on Upholstery Fabric that offers invaluable information.
Ready-made pillows or make your own cushions
Durability is as important as the design fabric – and that’s where maake comes in as a cushion and curtain fabric seller. Do you love the ready-made options and want to skip the sewing?
We've solved your problem. Why not get ready-made cushions from maakeHome? (View here.) They are sold with gorgeous prints for you to choose from and no hassle.
We not only offer a versatile and magnificent selection of over 10,000 unique patterns, we also offer a wide collection of magnificent fabric, much of which is sustainable.
What furnishing fabric should I choose for cushions?
There are decorative fabric cushions that sit around and look fabulous, and others that are great to look at but also have a purpose.
And there is fabric that we use daily for covering furniture, outdoor furnishing fabric brushed or fabric to cover dining-room, kitchen and home office chairs or for a curtain in the kitchen, office, etc. Let's not forget those we prop ourselves up in bed with while binge-watching Netflix. A fabric pillow cover for the home needs to be durable and long lasting.
Cover cushions that you use constantly in a long-lasting fabric. That way, they will withstand wear and tear.
Fabric like this includes Cotton Drill, Eco Canvas, Tentex Waterproof and Organic Cotton Panama fabric (see links below).
Let's talk about those embellished fabric cushions you've adorned the sofa with in your formal living-room! Indeed, you can cover those in a luxurious fabric, because you only look at them; you don't ever sit on them. You can even choose fabric dress fabric or fur fabric.
Luxury fabric that will elevate your room include Velvet upholstery fabric, Eco velvet, Melino Linen and Bayeux fabric (see links below).
Top 8 cushion fabrics - maake's choice for indoor furnishing fabric items
maake offers over 74 different types of quality cushions fabric as well as curtain fabric for decor. From those, we have chosen 8 exceptional, durable fabric that we suggest you use for cushions.
We have also given some details of each fabric to give you an idea of the type of cushions you should use each fabric for.
Here is a list of our top 8 fabric cushion craft fabrics for cushions that will elevate your home from gorgeous to breathtaking.
1. Organic Panama Natural fabric
This 100% GOTS cotton homeware fabric is a viable choice. The fabric is 140cm in width. It is a heavyweight canvas fabric and has a natural base colour with natural cotton seed flecks giving it a rustic feel.
As the fabric is printed with pigment inks that meet GOTS requirements, it has a sustainable finish for the eco-conscious as well as a high light fastness rating for brighter environments.
2. Organic Leve Panama Natural fabric
A stunning sustainable maake cotton fabric for cushion covers UK and curtain fabric, Organic Leve Panama Natural is 100% GOTS cotton fabric for cushion covers and 140cm wide. It's a medium weight canvas fabric. A little more supple than maake's Organic Panama Natural, this fabric has the same natural base colour. It features natural cotton seed flecks, which gives it a rustic feel.
Again, printed with pigment inks that meet GOTS requirements, the medium weight organic canvas fabric ticks all the sustainability and usability boxes for most users.
3. Cotton Drill fabric
This 140cm wide classic fabric is 100% cotton. It’s extremely popular, versatile, strong and durable.
Now, cotton drill fabric has a tight diagonal twill weave which is prominent on the face of the fabric. This printed fabric can give an item a unique appeal. And it offers excellent print clarity.
4. Satin fabric
This smooth, luxurious 100% cotton fabric has a matte finish and is 135cm wide. It’s a classic satin textured weave fabric that boasts a smooth printed face and a soft, luxurious feel.
This fabric is ideal for home furnishing, curtains and bed linen as well as for fabric covers for cushions. As the fabric is hard wearing, you can use it for frequently used cushions.
5. Melino Linen fabric
A combination of 93% cotton and 7% linen, this 135cm wide natural cushion fabric mix has a slub texture, which gives the fabric a fabulous depth and artisan feel.
Although the print face has a slightly irregular texture, it feels soft, smooth and luxurious.
Melino linen is the most lightweight fabric in maake’s linen range, making it ideal for this type of product. Colours print beautifully on this natural white base fabric.
6. Velvet and Eco Velvet fabric
A sensuous 100% polyester fabric, velvet fabric makes exquisite soft furnishings including curtains and blinds. The standard velvet fabric recommended above is luxurious, and Eco Velvet fabric is its more sustainable variant – made from recycled polyester.
They are extremely soft with some stretch and a short pile. The reverse of the fabric features a smooth off-white backing.
Both are 140cm wide. This fabric has a white polyester base, which prints strong vibrant colours and have excellent rub fastness with a martindale rating over 100,000 rubs.
7. Bayeux Upholstery fabric
At 140cm wide, this is maake’s heaviest polyester base fabric. It's off-white, and when you print on this fabric, it looks very natural. Colours print vibrantly with an almost metallic finish.
This 100% polyester fabric is luxurious, heavyweight and a high-shine chenille. It's regularly used as a light- or medium-weight furniture cover because it’s hard-wearing and soft, thanks to its short pile.
And as its plain weave is easy to clean, the fabric is often used to make aprons.
8. Tentex Waterproof
A medium-weight fabric, it’s perfect for covering outdoor furniture and ideal if you have kids and pets.
Made from 100% polyester and 140cm in width, it’s a very hard-working fabric and will withstand lots of wear and tear with a very high tensile strength. And the fabric has an excellent lightfastness rating of 7.
The fabric is crisp in texture and has a water-repellent finish. If you cut the fabric with a sharp blade, it doesn’t fray easily. When you print on it, the fabric's optic white base reacts brilliantly and produces vibrant colours.
For more information on waterproof fabric, read our Complete Guide to Waterproof fabrics here.
Cotton fabrics - fabric categories
Because cotton fabric is so durable, it's ideal for soft furnishings that are regularly used.
maake's cotton fabric is all printed with pigment inks which have exceptional quality lightfastness. These cotton fabrics are great for window seats and other summer cushions. We recommend using our cotton textiles indoors only, as they are not resistant to damp.
Although this type of fabric is lightfast for upholstery, its colours will fade if you leave it on a sunny window-seat or chair.
maake recommends 4 of our 100% cotton fabrics in total. They include Organic Panama Natural as well as Organic Leve Panama Natural, Cotton Drill and Cotton Satin.
Digital printing is the printing method we use for cotton fabric. It is an extremely eco-friendly method using digital pigment inks.
This printing process involves no water. And it uses about 95% less energy than traditional screen printing.
Linen fabric
Often used for furniture coverings, linen fabric is very hard wearing.
Made of natural fibres, linen fabric is a great choice for people who have sensitive skins, as it’s hyper allergenic.
This fabric is lightweight, heat resistant and cool to the touch, making them ideal for use as cushion cover fabric in the warmer months.
We use linen widely as this type of fabric. It’s more resistant to mildew, which makes it the perfect choice for fabric for damper climates.
At maake we use digital printing to print on all our natural fabric, including cotton and linen. Our choice of linen fabric for covering a cushion is Melino Linen.
For more information on printing on linen material, read our guide here.
Velvet fabric - categories
Velvet is not only an extremely luxurious fabric, it's also hard-wearing.
This plush fabric has a medium knit pile and is very soft and indulgent. The fabric is often used to create ornamental cushions, although it’s also great as a covering for more frequently used cushions.
maake recommends Velvet fabric, which is 100% polyester and Eco Velvet fabric, its recycled polyester variant.
Both fabrics use sublimation printing. This process doesn’t use any water and all the inks used to print on the fabric meet Oeko-tex requirements and pass EN71-3 certification.
You can purchase ready-made fabric products covered with velvet fabric in our Living and Décor section at maakeHome.
How maake prints on synthetic fabric
All of maake's synthetic fabric uses the sublimation printing method. This process does not use any water. All the inks we use meet Oeko-tex requirements and pass EN71-3 certification.
A lot of the fabric we use serves a more technical purpose. This is mainly to meet fire regulations in commercial interiors.
These include our faux fur fabric material Waterproof Suede FR fabric as well as Eco Upholstery FR fabric, which both meet Crib 5 FR ratings.
Additionally, fabric like our Eco Basketweave fabric and Heavy Satin FR fabric are popular for the home, more durable versions of Cotton Panama fabric and Cotton Satin fabric or higher traffic areas.
Match your base fabric with the right design
Cushions are part of the patchwork quilt you’re creating when you put a room in your home together. That involves painting the walls a particular colour or covering them in wallpaper with a stunning design. The fabric for furniture coverings, or even blinds or curtains are also part of the bigger picture.
At maake we offer an extensive range of fabric to choose from for all sorts of home interior crafts, including crafts fabric, a curtain, pillow cover and other items. We also provide exquisite patterns you can use in a variety of hues to update a look for your curtain or pillow or transform the fabric. If you like, you can also design your own fabric. The possibilities are as endless as the opportunities we offer.
Add a starter for 10
Before you shop for a base fabric or design to print on fabric, why not browse our extensive, exclusive design library. You’ll find great inspiration for your pillows (you can even include a matching curtain!).
Remember: if you’re keen to design your own fabric, our in-house studio are happy to assist.
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