Curtain Fabrics

Frame your windows and let the fabric do the work. When you smarten up your sashes or bring colour to your casements, you are complementing a colour scheme or fitting in with a particular look.

Do you want casual drapes running on curtain rings and a pole or are you looking for a more formal treatment where the curtains are teamed up with a pelmet and dressy tiebacks?

Your choice of curtains should reflect the mood of the room. Keep it simple if you are living in a modern environment, a neat pencil pleat heading and plain pole for example, and go OTT if you have a classic look in mind, and I mean indulge your windows with pelmets, tiebacks and tasselled trimmings.

There is a plethora of different looks for your curtains but you should always be generous with the fabric that you use. Whatever the style of the room, the curtains should comfortably cover the window; if the fabric has to be pulled quite flat to meet in the middle they will always look cheap, cheap, cheap. Allow a minimum of two times the width of the window and a maximum of three when you buy it. (You can go for more but it is only necessary for the most opulent of designs.) Those clever designs that seem effortlessly to pool on the floor can look amazing. This look works better with light fabric that flows and drapes easily; anything too heavy will bulk up on the floor into a heavy pile rather than sink down into a light pool.

FABRIC CHOICES

Never buy fabric for curtains based on a tiny swatch. You will have no idea about how a print will look when it is made up into curtains if you have only seen a small square of the design. It would be a bit like buying a still-life when the artist has only sketched a single apple: how are you going to know what the overall finished piece will look like? The best way to get an idea when you are buying fabric for this job is to grab the roll off the shelf in the shop and pull out a metre or two so that you can see the complete repeat of a design. No sales assistant in the soft furnishings department worth his or her salt will frown on you doing this and if they do, just stare them down. After all, if you are dressing two or three windows in the same room you might be investing a large amount of money.

Depending on the place that you are decorating, look to lovely shears, muslins and voiles for rooms where you want the light to flood in. They have a luxurious air when allowed to drape in generous swathes. One trick to add a more formal touch is to hang them behind a pelmet which is covered in a contrasting fabric. Choose damasks, heavy linen and textured silk when you want to make more of a statement with the drapes when they are closed. There is no doubt that you will have already made a decision about your colour scheme when you come to choose the fabric but think about the different effects that patterns can achieve. If you want to create the illusion of extra height, then opt for a design with a vertical stripe. If you want to add width, then pick a material with a horizontal design.

Just a note on poles. If your fabric is opulent, choose a suitably grand pole and make sure that the finials are dressy too. For sheer designs, keep the pole understated - something that ends with a simple curl would be fine.

Take the time to research your fabric choices and match the treatment to the mood of the room and you are on the right road for creating gorgeous windows.


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