I have been given a ton of beautiful upholstery fabric sample books, but they have paper backing around the edges of the fabric. I would like to remove the backing if possible to maximize their use (especially the 100% silks). Any ideas on how best to do it?
By the way, I plan to make bags, quilts, and dolls clothes.
Kylie from Melbourne, Australia
Beware, a lot of upholstery fabric changes character when exposed to enough water. Upholstery fabric often has heavy sizing or treatments like Scotchguard on them to give them the proper furniture, drapes, and cushions feel and help them last and stay clean. If you wash it in soap and water it will look like regular washed cotton fabric, or worse still, a crinkled jumbled mess. The dyes may run in the silks as well. Just a heads-up of what may (or may not) happen, and also should be considered when deciding to make a washable project.
By Kat
I have great success using an iron. Just enough heat to loosen the glue and it peels right off.
By Joan
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Ironing the paper backing didn't work for me. It resulted in paper sucking even more
The samples I have are quite heavily textured and ironing tends to take off some of the flock from the fabric. Any ideas?
You are right! The label pulls off easily after ironing for 30 seconds or less! It's very satisfying! But, after removing the label, what do you do to remove the glue that stays on the fabric?
I have found that if you simply let the pieces soak in hot or warm water in the laundry tub for about 20 minutes the lables come off easily
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