If you’re looking for an easy way to make your home look more luxurious, velvet might be the right choice for you. When thinking of velvet, many people immediately picture their grandmother’s sofa in a Victorian style, or an antique piece of wooden leg stool with velvet upholstery.
I’m here to tell you that velvet is much more than that. Whether you choose to go all-in with a velvet sofa, or simply want to add a touch of luxury with velvet pillows, here’s everything you need to know about the velvet crush.
What is Velvet?
First things first, what is velvet? The term velvet comes from the French velu, which means shaggy. It’s a soft fabric that is made out of a short, dense pile of evenly cut fibres. It looks luxurious and shiny and is soft to touch.
Velvet finds its main use in clothing and upholstery. Velvet gowns made from silk have been popular clothing pieces for centuries. Today, there is a variety of velvet clothing pieces made from cotton, linen, and wool. And in home décor, you can use velvet for upholstered furniture pieces, as well as curtains and pillows.
First velvet fabrics were introduced in Baghdad in 750 AD, but quickly found their way to Europe. They were made of silk and therefore were very expensive. Only royals and noble classes could enjoy the velvety touch. During the Renaissance, Italy has become the main velvet production centre.
Today, velvet is usually made from synthetic and natural fibres. Silk velvet is rare and extremely expensive. What is marketed as silk velvet often combines both silk and rayon. Synthetic velvet can be made from polyester, nylon, viscose, or rayon.
Different Types of Velvet
Crushed velvet
This type of velvet is made by twisting the fabric while it’s still wet or by pressing the pile in different directions. The result? Crushed, patterned look with a shiny and unique texture.
Panne velvet
This is a type of crushed velvet, only heavily pressured to push the pile in one direction.
Embossed velvet
Embossed velvet is a printed velvet, very popular in upholstery materials because of its patterned look. Manufacturers use a heat stamp to push down the piles, which creates patterns.
Plain velvet
This is usually a cotton velvet that doesn’t have the shine of the one made of silk and synthetic fibres. It’s heavy, with no stretch.
Piled-on-pile velvet
This type has piles of varying lengths that create a pattern. Velvet upholstery fabric usually contains this type of velvet.
Find the Perfect Dose for You
Not everyone will be ready to go all-in and revamp their home space velvet style. Most of us wouldn’t be comfortable with buying a velvet sofa, using velvet upholstering for our chairs, or choosing a bench in velvet. And that’s perfectly fine. That’s why velvet pillows are the perfect way to try and see how we like the look and feel of it as a part of our home décor. They’re the perfect dose to catch up with the excitement about this fabric that has become a new design trend.
Tips on How to Style Velvet Pillows
There are many reasons why you should use velvet cushions in your home interior. They go well with every interior style, from traditional boho to timeless Scandinavian. Being so soft to touch, they are the perfect way to infuse warmth into a contemporary living space.
Simple velvet covers might be the perfect addition to your sofa to make it look tasteful enough but not overwhelming. They team excellent with other fabrics, such as silk, cotton, and faux fur. And the colours simply look stunning on velvet because of its rich texture. These are some of the ways to display pillows in different areas of your home.
Decorate your bed
Nothing feels more inviting and cosier than a beautifully decorated bed with many pillows. There’s a science behind the reason we love the look of many pillows arranged on our bed. Studies show that we are drawn to asymmetry. We find it visually appealing to gaze at cushion arrangements on a bed because it disrupts our expectations. An odd number of pillows contributes even more to this and decorative pillows are the easiest way to disrupt an even number of pillows.
By using velvet, you can add a luxurious touch to your bed arrangement and instantly give your bedroom a dramatic makeover. You may find yourself asking questions like: “Should you use velvet cushion covers only?” or “Can you mix velvet and linen cushions?”. Since velvet goes well with any material, you can mix and match different cushion materials to create a look you love. You can choose velvet for the larger, European pillows, or the small decorative ones. It’s up to you.
Create a cosy office space
No matter if you’re going back to the office, or continuing to work from home, you can always benefit from having a cosy space in your office. You can make your home office more comfortable by adding soft furnishings to it like a modern armchair, a pillow and a throw blanket. You can choose velvet for the whole set or just for the pillows. The sensory input from the soft velvet can also serve a greater purpose and boost your creativity levels.
Decorate your sofa
This is the most obvious use of velvet for the cushions. You can use them to add a touch of luxe to your already cosy lounging space or to soften the heavy use of rugged masculine materials like wood and metal. Use velvet pillows in accent colours, such as indigo-blue and emerald green for a pop of colour to a monochromatic or neutral look. Or use them in neutral colours to enhance the natural look of the interior.
How to Care for Velvet?
Velvet has a reputation of a high-maintenance fabric that’s difficult to care for. This isn’t true. If you decide on buying a velvet sofa or upholstering a furniture piece, you may be surprised to learn that cleaning velvet is not harder than cleaning other fabrics. You should quickly wipe spills by tapping the material with a paper cloth.
Avoid rubbing, as it can damage the fibres. Occasionally vacuuming and steaming velvet is more than enough. When it comes to caring for velvet fabric, you can machine wash it in cold water using mild detergent and then iron with low to medium heat on reverse.
