With the weather turning colder, many people are looking for heavier fabrics to keep their homes and bodies warm. Velvet is a popular cold weather fabric as it’s both warm and fashionable in clothing and on drapes and furniture covers. However, unlike some warmer fabrics, velvet requires very particular care and attention to retain its beauty and shape.
Understanding velvet
Once restricted only to royalty such as the French king and his family and any favored subjects, velvet retains its royal feeling. The material is available for everyone now and creates an unmistakable look. To make velvet, two layers of fabric go on a double action loom, receive simultaneous weaving and interlace with connecting yarns. Cutting the layers apart when they come off the loom produces two pieces of fabric that have that familiar, upright pile, soft surface. Silk, acetate, rayon or a blend of those materials make up true velvet while cotton or cotton/polyester blend make up velveteen. Applying a finish to velvet helps keep the pile resilient, secure and full-bodied.
Common issues with velvet
Velvet is luxurious and lovely, but it can also experience issues that compromise its appearance and function. Velvet can flatten, become matted, pile, tuft, lose pile and shrink if you don’t care for it properly. Crushed velvet can lose its design and distort from wear and acetate velvets exposed to heat, pressure or moisture can flatten permanently, which ruins its beauty on clothing and furnishings. To keep velvet looking its best, practice proper care including:
- Don’t apply pressure to it when wet
- Hang in well-ventilated area after wearing
- Don’t blot spills, shake excess moisture and then air-dry
- Never iron
- Use steam to remove wrinkles
- Clean garments promptly after wearing
As you’re wearing your velvet garments out to events this season or dressing up your home with velvet accents, it’s likely that they’ll get a stain or spill on them. When this happens, don’t panic and don’t blot! Take your velvet clothing or accessories to a professional cleaner for stain removal and treatment that won’t damage the pile and appearance of the fabric. With proper care, velvet clothing and home accessories can retain their beauty for years and through all sorts of special events while they keep you and your home warm through colder weather.
Clean and protect the royalty of your velvet items by bringing them to Embassy Cleaners for experienced, professional cleaning.
