How to Choose the Best Sofa Fabric

How to choose a fabric sofa

Where Great Fabric Sofa Choices

Begin

Finding the perfect sofa isn't just about choosing a shape, style or size. It's about finding a fabric that feels right in your home.

Colours can look different online. Textures often feel different in person. Natural light changes throughout the day and every home has its own unique palette of flooring, wall colours and furnishings.

That's why we always recommend ordering fabric swatches before making your final decision.

A swatch allows you to experience the fabric where it matters most - in your own home, alongside the furniture, décor and lighting you'll be living with every day.

Why choose a fabric sofa?

Fabric sofas offer an enormous amount of choice, making it easier to find an upholstery that suits both your home and the way you live.

From soft chenilles and tactile bouclés to smooth velvets and practical woven fabrics, different upholstery can completely change the character of the same sofa.

Colour, weave and texture all influence how a sofa looks and feels within a room.

Fabric can also offer excellent everyday comfort, with options available to suit busy family homes, pets, entertaining and more relaxed living spaces.

The important thing is choosing a fabric for more than appearance alone.

Think about how the sofa will be used, how much maintenance you’re comfortable with and how you want the upholstery to feel day to day.

Understanding Different Sofa Fabrics

Not all sofa fabrics are the same.

Different constructions, fibres and finishes create different textures, appearances and levels of practicality.

Understanding their characteristics can help you choose an upholstery that works beautifully in your home.

Chenille

Woven

What is chenille fabric?

Chenille is a soft, tactile fabric made using yarn with a raised, velvety surface.

Its construction gives it a plush feel and subtle texture without the pronounced loops of bouclé. Depending on the particular fabric, chenille can range from relatively smooth to deeply textured.

The way the yarn catches light can also give chenille additional depth, making it particularly effective across larger upholstered surfaces.

Best for: Softness, comfort and relaxed everyday interiors.

What is woven fabric?

Woven upholstery is created by interlacing yarns to form the fabric’s surface.

Different yarn thicknesses, colours and weaving patterns can produce everything from a relatively smooth finish to a heavily textured material.

Unlike velvet, woven fabrics don’t rely on a pile for their appearance. Instead, much of their character comes from the visible structure of the weave itself.

This makes woven upholstery extremely versatile, with finishes ranging from understated and contemporary to softer, more traditional textures.

Best for: Versatility, visible texture and everyday upholstery.

Velvet

Bouclé

What is velvet fabric?

Velvet is characterised by its short, dense pile, which creates its distinctive soft surface.

Because the pile reflects light differently depending on its direction, velvet can appear lighter or darker as you move around the sofa or brush the surface. This natural movement is part of velvet’s character rather than necessarily a variation in colour.

Different velvet constructions can offer different levels of softness, sheen and practicality.

Best for: Rich colour, softness and a more luxurious finish.

What is bouclé fabric?

Bouclé is recognised by its distinctive looped and textured surface.

The yarn contains small loops or curls which create the irregular, tactile appearance associated with the fabric. This gives upholstered furniture visual depth even when a single neutral colour is used.

Its pronounced texture makes bouclé particularly suited to softer, contemporary interiors where the material itself forms part of the design.

Best for: Texture, warmth and contemporary statement upholstery.