What Are Those Dark Lines You Left on My Furniture?

by Jim Pemberton - the Fine Fabric Specialist

How would you like to receive a text with this picture, and this question?

"What are those dark lines you left on my furniture?"

Look very carefully at this picture & notice the darkened, uneven lines:

What Are Those Dark Lines You Left on My Furniture&##x3f;

The easy conclusion would be that these are simply dirty streaks, and that all that would be needed is to re-clean the fabric.

That conclusion would be wrong!

What happened to this fabric is actually far, far worse than simply some soil left behind!

What you see in this picture is color bleeding!

Now, if you look inside of the cushion, you will see the actual culprit:

Notice the dark yarns that run underneath of the length of the fabric. This weave, often known as the jacquard weave, "hides" the yarns that create the face pattern on the cushion in this fashion. When such yarns are not colorfast, the unstable dyes will wick to the surface of the fabric, just like soil wicks to the tips of carpet yarns. However, unlike soil, this discoloration will not clean out of the fabric.

There is, unfortunately, no way to correct this problem.

Prevention is Better than Cure

Before you clean any furniture, first conduct a thorough inspection. During your inspection process, you should be wary if you find that the fabric is a jacquard weave, and a thorough colorfastness test should be conducted before any cleaning commences.

In most cases, such fabrics can be cleaned safely, as long as you use low moisture cleaning procedures, and cleaning products that restrict color bleeding.

Never fail to do this, so that you do not receive such a picture on your phone, and such a question.

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Fabric Pro Upholstery Specialist Workshop

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Farmingdale, NY

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