CushionGuide
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The Cutting Table · a common question

Is your velvet cotton velvet or polyester?

Also asked as:Is the velvet made of cotton?Natural velvet or synthetic?

Velvet is a fabric made of light: tilt the pile and the color deepens. What that pile is made of decides how it survives a daily seat.

Answered by

The Colorist of New Orleans ·

The quick answer

The cushion velvet is synthetic, polyester or a poly-cotton blend, not cotton, linen or silk velvet. That makes it long-lasting, easy to clean and resistant to daily use, and it mostly doesn't wrinkle, while cotton velvets crush and wear faster on seating. For natural fiber, choose the 100% linen range or a cotton-linen fabric such as H12.

Teal linen-look Hemnes daybed covers with gold piping under a sloped attic ceiling, rattan pendant and vintage framesSave
Teal covers trimmed in gold piping settle a white Hemnes daybed under the eaves of an attic nook. The gold ties in with the rattan pendant and the old frames on the wall.

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Key facts

  • The velvet is polyester or a poly-cotton blend.
  • There is no cotton, linen or other natural velvet in the standard range.
  • Cotton velvet crushes and wears faster on seating.
  • The velvet mostly does not wrinkle.
  • Cotton velvet has occasionally been sourced from a supplier range, but supply can run out.
  • A cotton-linen fabric such as H12, or the separate 100% linen range, is the natural alternative.

Have it made

Have Élodie’s workshop cut this for you

Describe the room at four in the afternoon: the floor, the wall, the one color you love. That is where a good fabric choice begins. — Élodie

Leave your details and the workshop will call you to confirm measurements, fabric, foam and piping. No prices, dates or payment on this page: it is a request, not an order.

Fabric · Foam · Pipingwhat the workshop will confirm with you

Fabric
The velvet is polyester or a poly-cotton blend.
Foam
The core: its density and thickness set the feel.
Piping
The corded seam edge: matching, contrast or none.
Only for this request: no marketing calls or texts. Outside the US, add the country code.
In inches: length × depth × thickness, plus any angles or cut corners.

* Required. A member of the workshop team will call you to talk it through; nothing is charged and nothing is made until you have agreed on every detail with them.

We use these details only to answer this request and make your cushion: your name and contact details, the cushion details and photos you send, the page you came from and the ad or link that brought you, if any. The workshop that makes the cushions receives them. We don't sell them or share them for advertising, and we delete requests after 24 months. Privacy notice for requests.

Nothing is made or charged until you approve the details.

Want to pick the shape and add photos? Use the full quote form

Why the seat velvet is synthetic

On a seat, velvet's enemy is pressure. A pile that lies down and stays down reads as a bruise in the light. Polyester and poly-cotton velvets resist crushing, clean easily and stand up to daily use, and they mostly don't wrinkle. Cotton velvet has its admirers, my friends, but on seating it crushes and wears faster.

The whole velvet swatch library is synthetic for that reason, and the velvet care pattern covers pile, shading and brushing.

If you want natural fiber instead

  • Choose the 100% linen range, a separate chart for pure natural fiber.
  • Or a cotton-linen such as H12. One buyer who wanted cotton velvet landed there when supply ran out.
  • Ask about cotton velvet with a picture. It has occasionally come from a supplier range; those colors have no codes.
  • Expect it to crush. Cotton velvet on a seat wears faster than the standard velvet.

Glossy or matte? Ask your window

The pile is short and tight, smooth under the hand. Its sheen has been described both as slightly glossy and as not shiny at all, which tells you how much the light in the room decides. Daylight never lies; your screen sometimes does. Ask for real-life photos, and for no sheen at all, look at linen and cotton-linen.

Where will your cushion sit: in cool north light, or in a window that takes the afternoon sun?

Cushion velvet is polyester or a poly-cotton blend, not cotton; for natural fiber on a seat, choose 100% linen or a cotton-linen such as H12.

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Buyer questions

  1. A common question

    Is your velvet cotton, and does it wrinkle?

    The workshop's answer

    No, it's a polyester-blend velvet, which keeps covers long-lasting, durable under daily use and easy to clean; cotton velvets crush and wear faster on seating. It mostly doesn't wrinkle.

  2. A common question

    Can I get cotton velvet instead of your polyester velvet?

    The workshop's answer

    Sometimes. Cotton velvet can be chosen from a supplier range; those colors have no codes, so send a picture. Once it couldn't be sourced, and the buyer switched to the cotton-linen H12.

  3. A common question

    What is the velvet made of? Is it linen or cotton velvet?

    The workshop's answer

    A poly-cotton blend. There's no cotton or linen velvet; for natural fiber, choose the separate 100% linen range.

  4. A common question

    Do you have teddy or bouclé fabric?

    The workshop's answer

    Yes. Teddy has its own color chart and is the nearest option to bouclé. It's polyester and costs more than velvet.

Questions buyers ask next

Is polyester velvet soft?

Yes. The velvet is the fabric buyers love most for being both durable and soft, with a short, tight pile that feels smooth under the hand.

Is there silk velvet?

Not in the standard range, which has no natural velvet of any kind. Silk has come up only as a stock check on request, so ask before you plan a room around it.

How do the velvet covers wash?

Like every range: the covers come off and machine wash at 86°F (30°C). The synthetic pile is what lets it take that washing and daily sitting without crushing the way cotton velvet does.