Upholstery fabric is the one purchase where the eye is a poor guide. A velvet that photographs beautifully may not survive two years on a family sofa. A linen that feels wonderfully substantial in the hand may be rated for cushions and little else. The number that separates the two is the number most shops leave off the page.
So here is everything we publish about our own upholstery fabric by the yard, and what each figure means when you are standing at a frame with a staple gun, or writing a specification for a client who is trusting your judgment.
Start with double rubs
A double rub is one back-and-forth pass of an abrading pad across the cloth. A machine repeats the motion until the fabric shows wear, and the count it reaches is the fabric's abrasion rating. It is the closest thing the industry has to a single answer for how long something will last.
The Association for Contract Textiles publishes the thresholds everyone works from:
| Rating | Suitable for |
|---|---|
| 3,000–9,000 | Decorative only — cushions, drapery, headboards |
| 9,000–15,000 | Light domestic use |
| 15,000–30,000 | General domestic use |
| 30,000+ | Heavy domestic and light commercial |
A well-used family sofa is generally specified at 15,000 or above. A dining chair, which takes concentrated wear across a small seat, asks for more than its size suggests.
Why one cloth carries two different numbers
Wyzenbeek testing uses one of two abradants: cotton duck or wire screen. The same fabric scores dramatically higher on wire. Our European Linen, for instance, tests at 27,000 double rubs on cotton duck and 80,000 on wire.
Both numbers are honest. A shop quoting only the wire figure is quoting the flattering one. We publish cotton duck, the conservative measure, so that when you set our cloth beside a supplier who publishes wire, you know you are reading the tougher test.
You will also meet Martindale figures, the European equivalent. No reliable formula converts one to the other, so compare like with like and note which test a number came from.
The six upholstery cloths, side by side
| Fabric | Fiber | Weight | Double rubs | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recycled Canvas | 100% polyester, 50% REPREVE® | 7.1 oz | 100,000+ | Sofas, dining chairs, covered porches, playrooms |
| Lustre Velvet | 100% polyester | 9.2 oz | 80,000+ | Dining chairs, wingbacks, tailored upholstery |
| Performance Velvet | 100% polyester | 11.5 oz | 50,000+ | Armchairs, sofas, ottomans, headboards |
| European Linen | 100% linen | 10.6 oz | 27,000 | Occasional chairs, headboards, drapery |
| Performance Linen | 100% polyester | 7.6 oz | 21,000+ | Cushions, chair seats, sunny rooms |
| Cotton Denim | 100% cotton | 11.7 oz | 12,000 | Chair seats, ottomans, benches, slipcovers |
All six run 54″ wide except Cotton Denim, which is 56″. Every one of them is printed to order and available on the Blackthorn listing, in each of our seven colorways.
Two things worth saying plainly about fiber
Performance Linen is polyester. So is Lustre Velvet, and so is Performance Velvet. "Performance" is standard trade language for a synthetic engineered to behave like a natural fiber, and we would rather you heard it from us than found it on a care label. What you get in exchange is a cloth that resists staining, shrugs off sunlight, barely shrinks, and takes a spill without a mark.
Weight is not durability. Cotton Denim is the heaviest cloth on the list at 11.7 oz and the least abrasion-resistant at 12,000 double rubs. Recycled Canvas is the lightest at 7.1 oz and the toughest by a wide margin. Weight tells you how a fabric feels in the hand. It says very little about how it will wear.
How much upholstery fabric to order
Standard yardage charts assume a plain cloth. A repeating pattern asks for more, because every panel of a piece — seat, inside back, outside back, each arm — has to begin at the same point in the design.
The trade allowance runs roughly:
| Vertical repeat | Add to plain-fabric yardage |
|---|---|
| Under 14″ | 15% |
| 14–19″ | 20% |
| 20–27″ | 25% |
| 28″ and over | 30% |
Blackthorn repeats at 24″ across by 28.2″ vertical, which places it in the 30% band. Every pattern carries its own repeat, and it is stated on each listing rather than assumed from another.
These figures already include the allowance for a 28″ repeat:
| Piece | Yardage | Piece | Yardage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drop-in dining chair pad | 1 yd | Occasional chair | 5½–6½ yd |
| Dining chair, seat and back | 2–2½ yd | Standard armchair | 6½–8 yd |
| Footstool or small ottoman | 2–2½ yd | Wingback armchair | 8–9 yd |
| Large ottoman | 4 yd | Loveseat | 13–15½ yd |
| Bench, 48″ | 3¼ yd | Sofa, three-seat | 18–21 yd |
| Headboard, queen | 5½–6½ yd | Cushion cover, 20″ | 1 yd |
Order the whole project in one length. Fabric is printed to order in runs, and a second length ordered weeks later may not match the first exactly. It is far easier to have a yard spare than to find one missing halfway through a sofa, and the offcuts make handsome cushions.
The shrinkage nobody warns you about
Upholstery is rarely washed once it is made up, so shrinkage can feel like someone else's problem. It is not, if you are making loose covers or cushion covers, or if you intend to pre-wash before cutting.
European Linen shrinks 9–11% in length. On a five-yard order that is most of half a yard. Cotton Denim shrinks 6–9%. Both reward a pre-wash before cutting, or professional shrinking. The four polyester bases are effectively stable, and Lustre Velvet moves less than 1%.
If you are specifying for a client
Put these five things on the specification and the conversation stays a happy one: fiber content, weight, usable width, abrasion rating with the abradant named, and the pattern repeat. All five appear on every listing, and we will put them in writing if you would like something to forward.
For a piece that will be sat on daily, specify 15,000 double rubs or above on cotton duck. For a dining chair we would reach higher still, to Lustre Velvet or Recycled Canvas. European Linen belongs on the occasional chair or the headboard, where it is admired more often than it is used.
If you are doing the work yourself
Brush the pile in one direction and hold to it across every panel of a piece. Velvet reads lighter or deeper depending on which way the pile lies, and a single panel run the wrong way will look like a different color once the piece is together.
Finish raw edges on the cotton bases before washing. Woven cotton frays readily, and Cotton Denim in particular sheds a surprising amount through a wash cycle.
Give your upholsterer the repeat before they quote yardage. They will measure your actual frame and account for how your particular piece is cut, which no chart can do.
Common questions
How many double rubs does a sofa need?
Fifteen thousand or more on cotton duck for general domestic use. Thirty thousand and above is heavy domestic and light commercial territory, which is where our Recycled Canvas, Lustre Velvet and Performance Velvet all sit comfortably.
Is a heavier fabric more durable?
Not reliably. Our heaviest cloth is our least abrasion-resistant, and our lightest is our toughest. Read the abrasion rating rather than the ounce weight.
How much extra fabric does a large pattern need?
Around 30% above plain-fabric yardage for a repeat of 28″ or more. Blackthorn's 28.2″ vertical repeat falls into that band, and our yardage table above already includes it.
Can I use home decor fabric for upholstery?
For light-duty pieces, sometimes. Our home decor guide sets out which cloths suit curtains, tablecloths and cushions, and where the line sits between the two ranges.
Start with a swatch
A monitor emits light and cloth reflects it, so the two never quite agree. Color aside, pile and weight are things the hand knows before the eye does. A swatch first makes all the difference.
Every base is available as an 8″ × 8″ swatch, or as a set of all six upholstery cloths in a single colorway, so you can watch one color behave across a velvet, a linen and a canvas.
Browse upholstery fabric by the yard · Order swatches · See the full fabric collection
New to these patterns? Why William Morris patterns are trending again in modern interior design is a good place to begin.