Rayon cleaning

[Ron Werner]

what were the concerns with rayon upholstery again?

 

[Doug Cox]

I'm guessing one concern would be shrinkage. Then maybe water staining.

 

[sweendogg]

Rayon= mostly wood and cotton shinters extruded and post dyed so look for: Bleeding, Browning, possible shrinking and also consider that its going to loose up to 50% of its strength when wet!

 

[Jose Smith]

its going to loose up to 50% of its strength when wet!

Try up to 70%. It will shrink everytime it's wet, not like cotton which will shrink once and can be pre-shrunk. It can bleed, it can water stain, texture can be damaged if it has a pile. It is a nightmare to clean and is making a big comeback.

Rayon used to be on granny's old rocker. It was replaced by polyester and some cottons. However, it is making a HUGE comeback, and I mean H-U-G-E.

I spend a lot of time with designers and upholsterers. I can't tell you how many fabric books I have looked through lately with rayon in it. It's kind of scary.

Just be smart when you clean it and you should be okay. Don't get it too wet, get it really dry. All agitation should be done with a horsehair brush or a towel, not the upholstery tool.

Jose Smith

 

[The Great Oz]

100% rayon was common in the early eighties and quickly died. I think Flexsteel was a big user, and you would often see cushion and skirts that shrank in high humidity. Typically, if the rayon content is below 40% you won't have much trouble, except where body oils have dissolved the rayon.

There's a new generation of designers and customers to be abused by the fabric producers though, so I guess the time is right to see 100% rayon again. If you run into it just dry solvent clean it and you won't die a hero.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

There are few things that I recommend to be dry cleaned, but anything made from rayon that has a texture (velvet and chenille) is a candidate for this method.

Because of how weak rayon is when wet, there will always be a high level of risk of texture distortion during wet cleaning.

I agree with Bryan about the decrease of the amount of 100% rayon fabric, but chenilles made from rayon are the new "fabric from hell" I've been seeing. I'm still hearing evil rumors about microfibers made from rayon, but have not seen them yet.

Bottom line: If you have rayon fabric that is even moderately soiled, make sure you make some very clear prequalifications in writing before cleaning the fabric.

 

[Jimmy L]

Could you post some pictures of the fabric?

The one's I've run into were thin and had stripes.

 

[Hoody]

So Danny sends Jimmy his foot ball ref jerseys ?

 

[billyeadon]

Rayon= mostly wood and cotton shinters extruded and post dyed so look for: Bleeding, Browning, possible shrinking and also consider that its going to loose up to 50% of its strength when wet!

Gee if you can get by those minor drawbacks it is a great fiber. What amazes me is the amount of this crap that you find in 2-300.00 per yard material.

For some real crap check out www.leeindustries.com they are so excited because they use soy as part of the foam cushion. One of our customers just replaced a 6000.00 sofa. He wouldn't have replaced it but it was his wifes boss.

Will someone please tell me what cleaning code O stands for?

 

[harryhides]

Will someone please tell me what cleaning code O stands for?

Oh shit ??

 

[JamesBaileySmith]

I tried to buy some rayon microfiber in the garment district of Los Angeles and could not find it. I did find a black flock velvet that bleeds with dry solvent.

 

[billyeadon]

I tried to buy some rayon microfiber in the garment district of Los Angeles and could not find it. I did find a black flock velvet that bleeds with dry solvent.

Black and flocked. Now that is just palin wrong.

 

[Ron Werner]

this is a loose cushion. The whole uph is this fabric. This cushion has been cleaned with the HK tool and O2 prespray. Seemed to work ok.