Blinds fabric: photo, colors. How to wash vertical fabric blinds?

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

To decorate the windows of offices or residential buildings, modern designers actively use blinds. Fabric blinds are increasingly replacing traditional window curtains. All the advantages of this can not be overestimated: ease of use, durability, the ability to adjust the degree of natural light, a high level of protection against blinding light, reducing street noise…

However, in order for the fabric strips to serve for a long time and not lose their appearance, it is important to follow all the rules of operation. Consider an important issue regarding the careful care of this type of window decoration: how to clean it from dirt and dust without damage and how to wash vertical fabric blinds, depending on the material of manufacture.

About blinds

The first window blinds appeared in the cities of Russia and neighboring countries not so long ago, only in the early 90s. At first, the first "European curtains", as well as the plastic windows that came to the country at the same time, were perceived by most people as beautiful, but not toocheap western curiosity. At that time, most often such a novelty could be seen in business offices, and for home window decoration, even designers still preferred to use familiar textiles - tulle and curtains.

Today, blinds have managed to replace the usual curtains, tulle and curtains in many homes. The owners of houses and apartments have managed not only to highly appreciate such qualities as functionality, durability and ease of use, but also to understand that blinds can be an excellent decoration and addition to the interior of a room. This is not surprising, because modern manufacturers are increasingly relying on a variety of materials and a wide range of colors.

Types of blinds

All blinds can initially be divided into two types: vertical and horizontal. This division is based on the location of the lamellas - curtain strips, relative to the cornice.

The most popular blinds in home interiors are fabric slats attached to a PVC cornice - always vertical.

Color palette, types of materials used for fabric blinds

Many people will remember that the very first blinds were most often either white or plain, neutral pastel shades. Later, manufacturers significantly expanded the range of catalogs offering fabric blinds. The colors of the palette that exists today delight with their diversity. In the manufacture of textured and smooth fabrics, plain materials or fabrics with a pattern, gold and hot stamping are used. For home interior designersit is possible not only to choose blinds in a shade that matches the overall gamut of the room, but also to apply a very relevant artistic technique - to make bright, unusual stripes the main color accent of the interior.

Jacquard fabric is considered one of the most spectacular and beautiful materials for making slats. Natural jacquard with cotton and linen threads is of very high quality and has high light-shielding and noise-insulating properties.

Another natural material is cotton. Cozy and natural, this material, however, has a significant drawback: when washed, the cotton fabric can “sit down”. In this regard, consultants recommend immediately purchasing cotton blinds a little longer than necessary.

The most budget option is synthetic fabrics, more often polyester. Despite the fact that the properties of synthetics "lose" natural jacquard, the undeniable advantage of such a material is that it is unpretentious and does not require particularly careful maintenance.

General recommendations before washing fabric blinds

The first and most important rule: read the instructions. Fabric composition and washing and cleaning procedures should also be on the label of quality blinds.

The fabric parts of the blinds are always covered with a special protective compound that repels dust and other contaminants. For this reason, the slats during washing should absolutely not be wrinkled, rubbed, twisted and squeezed out - all these actions destroy the impregnation and can render the fabric strips unusable. For the same reason, fabric blinds cannot bewash too often.

IMPORTANT: All fabric blinds should only be washed with gentle detergents that do not contain bleach or stain remover.

Required steps before washing - wipe or vacuum the dust on the blinds and clean the window.

Optimal water temperature when washing slats is 30-35 degrees

If the material contains fiberglass (designation in the composition of GF or GL), these blinds are not washed!

Care and cleaning: dry clean and wash without removing the blinds from the eaves

Dry vacuuming or brushing is generally recommended for metal, plastic or wood blinds. For fabric lamellas, the use of this method alone is ineffective. Even without dismantling, dry cleaning will have to be combined with wet "washing".

Fabric blinds can be cleaned without removing them in the following way: apply foam of a special furniture and carpet cleaning agent to the prepared and dust-free slats with a soft sponge. After drying, remove the foam according to the instructions of the detergent.

How to wash blinds at home?

Of course, dry cleaning of slats is already convenient because it is carried out without the use of various detergents and without dismantling. But the disadvantage of dry cleansing is that it is, for the most part, not very effective against strong or old dirt.

In the case when washing cannot be avoided, the easiest way is to dismantle the slats and hand them over for dry cleaning or contact a cleaninga company that professionally provides washing services for blinds at the customer's home. If the services of professionals do not inspire confidence or are difficult for financial reasons, you can wash dirty blinds yourself.

How to wash fabric blinds without dry cleaning? It is important to immediately warn here: washing, of course, can effectively clean the blinds (fabric). But if the mandatory rules for washing fabric slats are violated, they can be damaged, significantly reducing their service life, or even hopelessly ruined.

Before washing, the fabric strips are carefully, without bending or twisting, removed from the eaves and freed from weights and chains. After that, the lamellas need to be twisted into a loose roll, each separately, and placed in protective fabric bags for washing (plain gauze is also suitable).

Why is it better to put each part separately? Specialists-consultants of companies that manufacture or sell these products do not recommend putting together all the slats that make up fabric blinds during the machine wash process (photo below).

Slats folded in this way, even when using a protective bag, can be twisted and torn in the washing machine.

Only cotton and synthetic fabric slats can be washed in the washing machine. The method is as follows: bags with fabric stripes are placed in a washing machine and washed on a delicate wash at 30-35 degrees temperature. No spin and auto dry!

Slats fromjacquard fabrics are washed only by hand, preferably not more than once a year! This is done as follows: fabric strips are soaked in an aqueous solution of a delicate wash for half an hour. After the strip, rinse thoroughly with running water. If dirt remains, repeat the entire washing process.

After washing and rinsing the blinds, it is IMPOSSIBLE to wring out the fabric strips so as not to break the protective layer! It is best to dry the lamellas in a suspended straightened state, that is, while still wet, immediately hang them on a cornice with a weight. In no case, when drying, blinds should not be exposed to hot or warm air, especially artificially created. Simply put, you do not need to try to dry the slats with a hair dryer. It is also not necessary to iron the slats.