The Beauty and Functions of Fabric
Fabric is of the greatest help in decoration. Along with paint and papers, or instead of them, it can transform uninspired walls and ceilings, disguise bad proportions, and can be of enormous help in cheering up a rented house or apartment that cannot be changed in any other way. It can dress windows beautifully, turn a dreary square of a room into softly draped luxury. The list of the other uses of fabric is surprisingly long, from the revitalizing of upholstery, to beds, not to mention pillows, seating, window seats, tablecloths, and throws.
As printing and other techniques improve, there are correspondingly more innovations. There are huge choices in printed and jacquard weave velvets. Many fabrics have their own matching or coordinating sheers, or smaller-scaled and co-coordinating-related fabrics, so that you can hardly make a mistake in mixing patterns and designs. Many are available with coordinating borders and trims, or even fringes.
Fabrics for Windows Treatments
On the whole, almost any fabric can be used at a window, though clearly some fabrics are more appropriate for particular rooms and climates than others. But just because chintzes, glazed chintzes, light cottons, and silk taffetas, moirés are conventionally suited to bedrooms, there is no reason why flannels, wools, or weaves of one sort or another should not be used. Heavy textures such as wools, tweeds and velvets, as well as chintzes, silks, moirés, damasks, and brocades (depending on formality) are thought good for living-rooms – but these spaces could just as well be a riot of airy textures, if it seems appropriate for the situation, the climate, and the client. As I mentioned in my previews articles, function, mood, and style are what should dictate a room (as well, of course, as budget). Besides, successful and interesting decoration is rarely achieved by sticking to rigid rules, but rather by using firm preferences with assurance.
There is, however, one very practical rule for draperies and that is, that it is far better to use a very great deal of cheaper material, smartened up with a border or trimming like cord or braid, if need be, than a skimped quantity of more expensive fabric.
Most fabrics also look, hang, and last better if they are both lined and interlined (depends of the fabric). If the ‘floaty’ look of unlined curtains or draperies is specifically wanted in a delicate room scheme, or in conjunction with contrasting shades, use an interesting texture such as filmy silk, raw or watered silk, or silk taffeta, softly printed voile, or embroidered muslin, or light linen. Try to ensure that any such light curtains are three times the width of the window, with deep hems – say, ten inches deep, both to help the fabric hang better and to allow for shrinkage.
Roller shades need a rather light, easily rolled fabric, though it is possible to get a variety of fabrics specially laminated. Roman shades, which are raised and lowered by strings, can be made in literally any material, even velvet, as long as it is not too thick to roll up and pleat evenly. Balloon shades need very light, soft fabrics to be as successful and look as soft as they should.
Upholstery Fabrics
There are rather more rules to be observed in the choice of upholstery fabrics, all of them based on common sense. Primarily, the use to which they will be put should be determined from the beginning. As well as the extent to which they will come into contact with those destroyers of any pretension to elegance – namely, small children, dogs, cats, sun, grease (from food eaten before the television, for example).
Living rooms obviously take greater wear and tear than bedrooms; people who entertain a lot, or who have young children, are likely to need much tougher fabrics than childless, less sociable people; and dining chairs take more of a beating than occasional chairs. This all sounds elementary, but the simplest rules are forgotten time and time again in the first rush of enthusiasm for a design or a finish.
The toughest wearing upholstery fabrics are densely-woven cotton, sailcloth, denim, twill, brocade, and corduroy, which are all cotton-based; linen union, which is linen mixed with cotton and the most traditional slip-cover material; velvet, which can be either cotton or linen-based; woven, textured, or plain damask; and even satins. Wool is an excellent, but softer, upholstery fabric, and is the basis for tweeds, wool reps, jacquards, and some tough, shaggy textures. Never buy loosely woven wool, or a loosely woven texture of any sort, for upholstery.
Acrylic has made a tremendous difference to pile fabrics and velvets, since it makes them washable (though it is always preferable to have covers dry cleaned). Nylon mixed with wool gives greater toughness, and nylon on its own has been especially useful for stretch covers needed for some occasional chairs.
Leather and suede, while a bit expensive, always look luxurious and are extremely long lasting, so remain popular. Ultra-suede can be easily spot cleaned so it is a good substitute.
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