upholstery fabric is not presently covered under the US Federal trade commission care labeling rule. the following codes however have been voluntarily developed by fabric and furniture manufactures to help alleviate uncertainly about upholstery cleaning methods and the potential for consumers dissatisfaction with cleaning results. spotting and cleaning codes comprise the recommended format for fabric cleanabililty but not necessarily the finished upholstery. information is included on labels tags and manufacturers sample swatches. the following codes were designed by the fabric manufactures. consumers and cleaners may see the code W,S,W-s or X without the code description . or they may see newer variations such as F,P for plant dry cleaning or WW for wet cleaning of sensitive fabrics. as professional cleaners you should become familiar with these code descriptions and their variations. follow the suggested procedure carefully for satisfactory cleaning results or use experience and assured pretesting for any alternate cleaning method
"W" water based cleaner or WW- to prevent overall soil frequent vacuuming or light brushing is recommended to remove dust and grime. spot clean using only the foam from a water based cleanign agent such as mild detergent or nonsolvent upholstery shampoo product.apply foam with a soft brush using a circular motion. vacuum when dry. pretest a small area before proceeding. use a professional furniture cleaning service when an overall soiled condition has been reached. the newest WW cleaning code is for specialty wet cleaning no dry volatile solvents and to avoid rubbing brushing or overwetting that may degrade the finish. blot only for stain removal.
S solvent cleaner- to prevent overall soil frequent vacuuming or light brushing is recommended to remove dust and grime. spot clean using a mild water free solvent or dry cleaning product. clean only in a well ventilated room and avoid any product containing toxic materials. pretest a small area before proceeding. use a professional furniture cleaning service when and overall soiled condition has been reached .
W-S- Water/ solvent cleaner- to prevent overall soil frequent vacuuming or light brushing is recommended to remove dust and grime. spot clean with a mild solvent and an upholstery shampoo or the foam from a mild detergent. when using a solvent or dry cleaning product follow instructions carefully and clean only in a well ventilated room. avoid any product that contains toxic materials. with either method pretest a small area before proceeding. use a professional furniture cleaning service when an overall soiled condition has been reached.
X-Vacuum only- clean this fabric only by light vacuuming and mild brushing to prevent accumulation of dust and grime water based foam cleaners or solvent based cleaning agents of any kind may cause excessive shrinking or distortion of the surface pile and should not be used at all.
mechanical- these processes involve use of water based cleaning systems with equipment specially designated for the application and/or extraction of the wet detergent solution. processes include hot water extraction(steam) shampoo(rotary brush) and foam ( rotary brush) cleaning. the latter two may also incorporate a wet extraction procedure using a wet/dry vacuum or similar extraction unit. i is important to minimize fabric wetness on certain delicate or sensitive upholstery fabrics.
Manual- this method commonly involves hand brush application and agitation of any upholstery shampoo solution or only the foam from that same solution, a wet extraction and/or vacuuming follows the manual cleaning operation. this method is sometimes referred to as bucket and brush plus wet extraction. for haitian cotton and similar natural colored upholstery fabrics special detergent and shampoo is available from the product suppliers. several of these incorporate an oxygen type bleach or a reducing agent alone with the upholstery cleaning solution. these are used to minimize or eliminate so called cellulosic browning that may occur after wet cleaning.
mechanical- this method is especially useful when customary wet upholstery cleaning might result in dye bleeding cellulosic browning or the like. it involves first spraying or misting the fabric with odorless mineral spirits followed by hot water extraction cleaning using a hot detergent solution and thorough extraction. finally a light application of OMS or volatile dry solvent may again be used. the fabric is rapidly dried using the equipments extraction system assisted by fans or air movers/blowers. small sections are cleaned one at a time to ensure rapid drying.
mechanical- this involves use of specially designed equipment for spray application and extraction of an upholstery cleaning dry volatile solvent. the upholstery cleaning solvent is often formulated with detergent and/or finishing compounds. if you choose to dry clean latex backed upholstery fabrics. it is imperative to minimize wetness otherwise the backcoating may degrade. do not saturate or overwet any fabric
Manual- this method involves hand application of dry volatile solvent either misted on and/or worked in with absorbent white towels. the solvent formulation used is specially designed for upholstery cleaning. and alternate method if dry cleaning the fabrics surface involves use of specially prepared chemical sponges similar to those used in fire damage restoration. another method is hand application and agitation of dry absorbent compound followed by vacuuming to remove the cleaning compounds.
wool is used alone and it is found in blends in many upholstery fabrics such as damask frieze tapestry and velvet. wool is one of the more durable hard wearing fibers. it is flexible bulky warm abrasion resistant and very absorbent. it is very resilient easily resisting and recovering from wrinkles. wool is non flammable and resists soiling especially grease and oil stains. it can be dyed easily in a wide range of colors and woven in may luxurious styles. wool rich blends with nylon are common. wool loses much strength when wet and shrinks when subjected to heat moisture and agitation. it is easily damaged by strong alkalies and oxidizing agents. it turns yellow with age when exposed to sunlight and heat. unless specially treated wool can be damaged by certain insects( moths and furniture beetles)
cleaning characteristics: wet clean or dry clean. wool can be wet or dry cleaned. if wet cleaned be certain to pretest to insure colorfastness. use a mild acid side detergent of ph 6.5 or less. or wet clean followed by a sour or mild acidic rise dry promptly.
flocked velvet is made by using heat or adhesive to bind very short pieces of fiber to the surface of a base fabrics. the finished fabric looks similar to a woven velvet or velveteen. fivers used for the pile are either cotton or rayon or that are nylon and when found in uniformly erect pile fabrics. similar to printed flock velvet is burnt velvet which exhibits a colored or print design in a pile fabric. it is produced by chemically dissolving set of fibers in the design. this gives the appearance of it having been burned out in those areas devoid of pile fiber a flocked velvet will have a smooch uniform appearance on the back or reverse side. by contrast a burnt velvet will still show the remaining pile on the back.
cleaning characteristic: wet clean. flocked velvet fabrics are wet cleanable. the adhesive used for fiber bonding is somewhat solvent soluble. dry cleaning especially with chlorinated solvents should be avoided otherwise pile fibers will be removed from the base fabrics. burnt velvet fabrics can be gently wet or dry cleaned but pretest all cleaning products for safety before use.
crushed velvet is produced by altering velvet pile characteristics. the velvet fabric is placed between rollers then heat moisture and pressure are applied. the pile is pressed in various directions. as a result the pile reflection various from dull to bright in any many directions. embossed velvet is another variation produced by pile modification. velvet can be embossed using engraved rollers or block printing. another method first flattens areas that will remain higher. surrounding pile is sheared to the lower height then the fabric is steamed to raise the flattened pile which then stands higher than the sheared part.
Cleaning characteristics: dry or wet clean with caution. most crushed and embossed velvets may be dry cleaned but special precaution needs to be taken to insure that the pile design/variation is not distorted or removed. any design that was applied with heat moisture and pressure can be removed by permanent. if the fabric is natural fiber or rayon it may be safer to dry clean. synthetic fiber velvets can be wet cleaned usually without difficulty if the crush or embossed design is properly heat set. pretest if in doubt about permanence of the crushed or embossed design. then dry clean or foam clean with minimal moisture or wetness.
velvet is a warp pile fabric and velveteen a filling pile. rows of short cut pile fibers stand very close together giving an even uniform raised surface that has a very soft hand. the pile can be woven on a plain twill or satin background. velvets are made from spun or filament yarns such as acrylic acetate nylon rayon or silk fibers. high end velvet is usually made from natural fibers such as cotton or silk. there are two basic kinds of velvet construction: v interlace and w interlace. in v interlace velvets pile yarns are anchored by a single warp yarn and are relatively easy to pull out. pile yarns in a w interlace velvet are anchored by two warp yarns and are usually more secure. velvets can be treated with crush resistant stain and spot resistant and water repellent finishes. acrylic and nylon are naturally crush resistant cotton rayon and acetate crush more easily and some may mat down permanently with moisture and pressure. velveteen is a lower height closely set filling pile fabric usually made from staple fibers such as cotton.
cleaning characteristics: wet or dry clean. proper finishing and grooming is especially important. the fabrics condition and the customers concern to some extent determine the method of cleaning. wet clean if soil is the customers main concern. dry clean if texture retention is more important and the fabric is not too soiled. most velvets dry clean satisfactorily. take care however to limit the amount of dry cleaning solvents otherwise the latex backing found on many velvets may weaken or degrade resulting in pile loss during cleaning or soon thereafter. acetate rayon and silk velvets should be dry cleaned.the more common acrylic nylon polyester velvets can also be wet cleaned by various means. some cleaners use the dry wet dry method for velvet fabrics. velveteen fabrics should be treated as velvets. avoid excessive agitation during cleaning as pile removal can occur especially with v interlace construction. lightly mist or spray during cleaning to better control wetness and this avoid pile distortion. brushing during cleaning also may cause pile distortion or matting use care and minimize agitation. correct napping brushing and pile finishing is very important to the overall success of the cleaning. steaming pile misting and careful napping with a velvet brush erects the pile for proper drying. an air blower may sometimes needed in conjunction with pile napping to brush and fluff the pile during drying.
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