Used widely across fashion and interiors, velvet has long been a go-to fabric for creating a high-style look. But it can come off as a little intimidating—you might feel it reads too extravagant or that caring for it is too troublesome. We’re here to dispel those rumors and to let you know that velvet is in fact a practical option for any home. Read on to see what makes it one of our favorite fabrics.
It Is Surprisingly Versatile
It also transcends trends and styles beautifully: Its luminous sheen makes it especially fitting for a glamorous room, but it can feel equally at home in relaxed or modern spaces.
It Has Historical and Royal Roots
There are several schools of thought as to where and when velvet originated, but it’s generally agreed that it was somewhere in the Far East—likely China—around the 13th century, if not earlier. Velvet then made its way west along the Silk Road, becoming immensely popular during the Italian Renaissance. (In fact, the word “velvet” comes from the Italian word velluto, meaning “shaggy.”)
How It Is Made
Velvet can be woven from any type of yarn. While in the past it was typically woven from silk, today cotton, linen, wool, and synthetic fibers (often in combination) are commonly used.
What is Sherpa?
Sherpa is also called faux-sheepskin or faux-shearling. The fabric has two sides. One is the stitched wooly side with a soft and bumpy texture comparable to real fleece; the other side is a smooth knit shell. Together, they make a sherpa material that is both warm and durable.
How Sherpa Fabric is made?
Sherpa is made from polyester fabric but has some stretch to it. It is not made from wool, although it has that look. Sherpa fleece has two sides一one is a smooth knit, the other is textured to look like fleece from sheep.
Knit fabrics are made in one of two basic ways
Understanding the ways in which knit fabrics are manufactured will help you see why the topic of knits is so complex. You will see why different knit fabrics behave in such dissimilar ways. Unlike a woven fabric, which is composed of a series of warp (lengthwise) yarns interlaced with a series of weft (crosswise) yarns, a Knitted Fabric is made up of one or more yarns formed into a series of loops that create rows and columns of vertically and horizontally interconnected stitches. A vertical column of stitches is called a wale, and a horizontal row of stitches, a course.
Although in a woven fabric, the terms warp and weft refer to the direction of the two sets of yarns making up the fabric, in a knit fabric, these terms describe the direction in which the fabric is produced: A weft knit—which is what hand-knitted fabric is—is one made with a single yarn that’s looped to create horizontal rows, or courses, with each row built on the previous row.