At Charles of Lloyd upholstery, we pride ourselves on being a design-literate team and service.
We live and breathe the pieces we create and can think of nothing more enjoyable than discussing the endless potential of fabrics and furniture combinations. Here are some of the considerations explored when picking fabrics.
Colour vs show wood - Does your fabric work with the wood colour? laying fabrics next to your frames and looking at them in a different light can make all the difference.
Print Vs Plain - Can the scale of your piece of furniture handle a print, should it be a big or small print, is it very curvy and perhaps a stripe would be distorted, or angular and a stripe might be perfect?
Grain and texture - Every fabric has a distinct grainline. This can be prominent or subtle and make or break a piece of furniture.
Railroad or roll width - is this a wide piece of furniture which would benefit from 'railroading the fabric' which means running it sideways? Often railroading as opposed to using a standard roll width can mean fewer seams and breaks in the upholstery giving a more minimal look.
Stain resist - Do you have any performance requests for your fabric? While we can't perform miracles, we can deter your pets, limit allergies, and prioritise organic fibres as an example. We just need to know your brief.
Fire regs - All of our fabrics are up the the British Fire regulation standards which means they either pass the cigarette and match test for domestic upholstery, are more than 70% natural fibres and can simply include a treated interliner, or meet the strict CRIB 5 Commercial standards for a commercial setting. Don't worry, we have the boring stuff covered too.