DIY Upholstery, alternative to Marine Fabrics

I've had the synthetic velvet type fabric for interior boat upholstery and it's fine. Never seems to wear and can be washed. The famous brand name is Dralon, but this hardly seems to be for sale retail - just a few leftovers on fabric suppliers' sites. Maybe there are supply problems or Bayer only sell it to commercial furniture producers.

An alternative is chenille. Dralon is acrylic and has excellent colour fastness and water shedding properties like the acrylic canvas used for sailcovers. I don't know whether chenille is as good, but it's readily available and cheap, for example...

Chenille Fabric

I suspect that your link is a Dralon knock off, although it's polyester rather than acrylic.
 
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frlrubett said:
Married to a seamstress. Looking for a well priced fabric in 2026, which isnt sweaty to sleep on and is resistant to mildew.

Do not want to pay the Marine pricetag...

Seen people mentioning synthetic fabrics, heavy duty. This stuff is super cheap...

Premium Faux Suede Upholstery Fabric | Heavy Duty (45,000 Rubs) | 60″ Wide

Anyone done this sort of job recently?

Thanks!
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Not water resistant nor fire retardant so in my view not suitable for boat use. There is no such thing as "marine" fabric - just fabric that has the right properties for use on a boat (and used in many other applications). Inevitably such fabrics tend to be more expensive than others that are made to a lower standard. Labout is the biggest "cost" of upholstery and even if your labour is "free" does not make sense to skimp on the fabric
 
Tranona said:
Not water resistant nor fire retardant so in my view not suitable for boat use.
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Fire retardant spray is available for fabric for about £20 and takes minutes to apply. Polyester and acrylic upholstery fabrics are water resistant. They don't rot, are washable and are difficult to stain. If water shedding protection is required then a tin of Scotchguard costs £6. The only fabrics with greater water resistance for boat upholstery are the awful sweaty vinyls used in the 1970's - OK for cockpit cushions, horrible to sleep on. An occasional bit of damp does synthetic velvets no harm at all. It may not be to everyone's taste, but it will do the job.
 
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The OP's link says "heavy duty" but at only 225gsm, I would dispute this as specification lists it as a curtain material. From memory, around 300- 400 gsm would be nearer the mark for a long wearing upholstery fabric. I would visit local upholster and see what suitable roll ends they have.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
Fire retardant spray is available for fabric for about £20 and takes minutes to apply. Polyester and acrylic upholstery fabrics are water resistant. They don't rot, are washable and are difficult to stain. If water shedding protection is required then a tin of Scotchguard costs £6. The only fabrics with greater water resistance for boat upholstery are the awful sweaty vinyls used in the 1970's - OK for cockpit cushions, horrible to sleep on. An occasional bit of damp does synthetic velvets no harm at all. It may not be to everyone's taste, but it will do the job.
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Should be no need to spray. From early 1990s, all furniture upholstery fabric has to pass the "match test". Foam regs. came in a couple of years before.
 
Graham376 said:
The OP's link says "heavy duty" but at only 225gsm, I would dispute this as specification lists it as a curtain material. From memory, around 300- 400 gsm would be nearer the mark for a long wearing upholstery fabric. I would visit local upholster and see what suitable roll ends they have.
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The chenille I suggested is 355gsm at £10/m. Boat upholstery gets a pretty easy life compared to even domestic upholstery - sat on 40 days a year instead of 365.
 
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