Five clever things to know before you choose fabrics for your home.
1. For fabrics that touch your skin, look at the label
With sheets, towels and throws, I’m quite particular about what they’re actually made from — after all, we spend hours wrapped up in them. Natural fibres such as cotton, linen and bamboo are breathable, comfortable and tend to get lovelier with age rather than simply wearing out.
2. Don’t just check the fibre — check the weave
We tend to get very caught up in whether something is linen, cotton or wool, but the weave can make just as much difference to how a fabric looks and lives. A tightly woven fabric generally holds its shape better, traps less dust and is easier to vacuum than something very loose, fluffy or heavily textured.
I love linen, for example, but for a sofa I’ll usually look for a heavier, tighter weave rather than the lovely floaty linen you’d use for curtains. Same fibre, completely different job.
3. For instant luxury, use the precious fabric in small doses
You don’t need three metres of wildly expensive fabric to make a room feel expensive. In fact, some of the most luxurious rooms use special fabrics very sparingly.
Think mohair velvet on an occasional chair, a beautiful wool on an ottoman, silk or linen on a lampshade, or an incredible patterned textile on just the front of a cushion with a more affordable plain fabric on the back.
It’s the interiors equivalent of wearing a great pair of shoes with jeans — one fabulous thing can lift everything around it.
Bonus tip: Spend your fabric budget where your hand or eye naturally lands. An armchair, bedhead or cushion gets noticed far more than five metres of fabric hiding behind a curtain fold.
4. If allergies are an issue, think “smooth + washable” rather than simply “natural”
Natural fibres are lovely, but natural doesn’t automatically mean allergy-friendly. If someone in your household is sensitive to dust, the smartest choices are often fabrics with a smoother, tighter surface that can actually be cleaned easily.
Cotton and linen slipcovers are brilliant for this because they can be removed and washed. I’d be more cautious about very deep bouclés, shaggy cushions and heavily brushed fabrics in bedrooms if dust is a concern — gorgeous though they may be.
5. Wool is one of interiors’ quiet overachievers
Wool can sometimes be thought of as quite traditional, but the new generation of wool upholstery and rugs can look incredibly sophisticated. It has a beautiful depth and softness that synthetic fabrics often struggle to replicate, and it’s wonderfully suited to pieces you want to keep for years.
Look at softly brushed wool on an armchair, a chunky flat-weave wool rug, or a fine wool curtain in a bedroom. The effect is warm and cocooning without having to pile the room with “stuff”.
Bonus tip: If an all-wool upholstery fabric stretches the budget, use it on one hero piece and choose a good-quality linen or cotton blend elsewhere. Rooms usually look more layered when every fabric isn’t the same anyway.
6. The most expensive-looking rooms mix textures, not colours
Here’s a little designer trick: if you want a room to feel calm but not boring, keep the colour palette quite restrained and let the fabrics do the decorating.
A chalky linen curtain + crisp cotton + velvet + wool + one slightly irregular woven fabric will feel infinitely more interesting than five different beige fabrics that all have the same finish.
Juliet’s tip: When choosing fabrics, put all your samples together and close your eyes. Touch them. You want them to feel different. If they all feel the same, the room may end up looking the same too. A little contrast is what gives a neutral room that gorgeous, collected, expensive feeling.