24th February 2010

Dining Room Chair Cover Fabric Comparison

A dining room chair cover is an affordable decorative item that can help you change the look of your dining room in minutes.

A dining room chair cover is an affordable decorative item that can help you change the look of your dining room in minutes. The modern-day covers come in all sorts of colours and fabrics, allowing anyone to achieve the exact look and feel that they want to have in their dining room. In this article, we will discuss two of the most popular materials used in the making of these products, and how to choose the one that would fit you best.

The two most common materials used for dining room covers are cotton and polyester. Each of these fabrics has its advantages and drawbacks, and each one requires different care.

Today, cotton is the most abundantly used textile. It’s used for clothes, bed linens, as well as for upholstery and covers. A dining room chair cover made of cotton will have a distinct look and feel of a natural fabric, it will be easy to care for, as well as it can “breathe”, which is considered healthy. The main issues with cotton: it’s not stain-resistant, it’s not flexible, and it’s prone to wrinkling. Thus, you may have to wash your covers quite often and then iron them after washing.

The second popular option is polyester. This is a synthetic material made of petroleum derivatives. Its advantages include: stain-resistant, wrinkle-resistant, and flexibility. Polyester itself may not be that flexible. However, polyester spandex blends (with around 5-10% spandex) are so flexible that they fit like a glove on furniture. These blends may stretch up to 30% of their original size. Thus, if you are looking for something that would not soil for a long time, and that would not require ironing once washed, a dining room chair cover made of polyester may be better than that made of cotton.

Taking care of these two materials is also different. Cotton will not become damaged by high temperatures, such as when washing or ironing. Moreover, you can use almost any type of detergent on it. The fabric will neither fade, nor shrink or stretch. Polyester, on the other hand, requires being very careful with the temperature and detergents. It’s recommended to wash it in cold water, and use steam rather than an iron for getting out any wrinkles that may form occasionally. Also make sure to use the mildest detergents on it. If you follow the aforementioned suggestions, both cotton and polyester will serve you well for years to come.

As mentioned above, the best point about a dining room chair cover is its affordability. When purchasing a new chair, many people are hesitant to choose bright colours, as they may get soiled or fade easily. Thus, you may have always wanted to purchase black or white chairs for your dining room but didn’t do so, because you were thinking about how fast the white will turn grey, and how soon the black will fade. If you use covers on the chairs, you can totally unleash your imagination. You can use white covers today, black tomorrow, and red the day after. In fact, you can change covers every season, or have special items for the holidays.

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