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Textile Details

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Fabrics are an essential element to an interior designer. We gravitate toward their color, touch, and texture. Textiles are an indispensable part of our lives. We rediscover their caress every day, whether in table linens or bed and bath fabrics. If you've watched me on QVC, you know that I can't keep my hands off the products I present. As Hermine Mariaux of Home Textiles Today put it, “From colorful to calmly sophisticated, home textiles are the first and the last thing we touch to our skin and use to brighten our home environment.”

So how do you know which fabric is right for you? The answer depends on many things — where and how you'll use them, your expectations in terms of longevity and durability, and their ease of care. Fabrics are divided into two content categories: natural and man-made fibers.

Natural fibers are very appealing because of their beautiful appearance and also their distinctive hand (the way they feel). Man-made fabrics can be made from organic products such as wood pulp or cotton waste (which is used to make rayon or chemical sources such as olefin, acrylic, polyester, or nylon). Many of today’s fabrics are blends of both natural and man-made fibers, which result in the best of all worlds — durability, colorfastness, and a beautiful hand.

Construction also plays a vital role. The tighter the weave, the stronger the fabric. But the thickness of each thread also affects the overall fabric. One of the best fabrics for durability and touchability is microfiber polypropylene. Picture the finest fiber you can imagine, and then divide it in half — that's microfiber. Half of the thickness of silk and one hundred times finer than a human hair, microfiber is the tiniest man-made fiber ever created. Fabrics made of microfiber are wrinkle-resistant and easy to care for. I feel so strongly about the performance and value of this fabric that I even upholstered my sofa in WHITE microfiber. Now nearly eight years old, it still looks great because this fiber is washable and stain-resistant! Love it.

When choosing fabrics, here are a few tips to remember:

Make sure all of your patterns have the same neutral color as their background. White with white, off-white with off-white, etc.

Remember to consider the overall effect that the pattern will have in a specific application. For example, a chair covered in a bright or dark pattern will appear heavier or larger than if it was covered in a light pattern. Use stronger, bolder prints to make a room appear smaller and airier prints to enlarge it.

As a rule of thumb to keep from creating chaos, don’t use more than four different patterns in a room.

Match fabrics with function.

Don’t sacrifice quality for look. Buy the best you can afford — it'll save you money in the long run.

Choose fabrics that make you smile! Choose a color theme, then allow one pattern to dominate. Your color palette should have no more than three dominate colors — a main color, a contrasting color, and an accent color.