Guidelines for Washing Upholstery Fabric
Living with young kids and pets can be tricky at times. This is mainly because they can get really messy and ruin or make your furniture dirty. Well, you obviously want to live in a clean, tidy house and should consider washing your upholstery fabric.
There are fabrics that can be washed thoroughly by either hand or machine. However, there are those that can only be spot cleaned and would require you to use solutions provided by the manufacturers. It is also significant to note that not all fabrics are machine washable.
For any upholstery fabric to be allowed in a washing machine, it needs to be a colorfast fabric that is also pre-shrunk. If you want to confirm if your fabric passes the pre-shrunk tests, then, the best place to find out is on the manufacturer's tag. You can also confirm if its colorfast by simply rubbing a damp white piece of cloth on the upholstered piece. If there is color coming off onto the cloth, then, your fabric is probably not colorfast and would require a professional cleaner.
If your fabric passes the two main tests, it is ready for washing. There are some people who would prefer vacuuming and pre-treating spots or stains first for easy cleaning. It is recommended that you also refrain from using water that is either warm or hot. Remember that drying the upholstery is also delicate and needs careful guidelines.