Glossary of window treatment terms

Sometimes when we are working out the details of an order with a client, they write back and say, "what does that mean?" Here are some common terms that we use and their pronunciations and definitions. Some may surprise you!

Mounting block or head rail- This is the block that the window treatment is assembled on and from where you will attach the window treatment to the wall or the window frame. For Roman Shades it is typically a 1 x 2. In the case of the picture below it is a  2 x 4 for a valance.

Yellow Chevron stripe

Yellow Chevron stripe railroaded

Railroad- This term means to turn the fabric sideways from the direction it was intended. We usually use this term if your window is wider than home decor fabric. If your window is 59" wide and home decor fabric typically is 54" wide, we will recommend that you find a fabric that can be railroaded so that we can turn it sideways to use the length for the width to make the necessary 59" needed to cover the window.

dowel rods- These are wooden rods that are cut to the same width as your Roman Shade and placed down the back of the shade approximately every 10 inches.

This is a picture of the back of a roman shade in progress. You can see the casing that is placed about every 10 inches. The wooden dowel rods go inside that casing.

ribbing- Ribbing is what makes a Roman Shade, by definition, flat. The dowels placed inside the casings you see in the picture above keep the shade flat and when it is rolled up the ribbing keeps it straight across. The ribbing prevents the swoop that you see in Relaxed Roman Shades and also prevents puckering on the sides of the Roman Shades. Ribbing helps the shade fold up cleanly and neatly.

ikat- pronounced ee-kawt, ikat is a dyeing process where an anti-dye is used to treat the fabric before dyeing.Then when the fabric is dyed, the anti-dye causes the dye to run.

twill- Any kind of fabric can be a twill: cotton, polyester, denim, etc. Something is defined as twill if it has a diagonal weave.

canvas- Canvas is a a tough and durable fabric very similar to twill. The only difference that I can tell between a twill and canvas is the wave. Where twill is diagonal, canvas is weaved in the typical horizontal fashion.
medium weight fabric











Jaquard- Jacquard is a type of fabric with the design woven into the fabric rather than being printed or dyed.









Cleat- The purpose of a cord cleat is to wrap up excess cording when your shade is pulled up. These used to come standard with our shades, but we discontinued them last year. They are not in compliance with Window Covering Safety regulations. When the cord is wrapped around the cleat the coring is then pulled taught. If a child or pet gets and arm or foot, etc, in between the wall in the cord it could be hazardous.

Cord lock- cord locks hold the pull cord in place when you roll up your shades. The gold piece moves depending on which direction you pull the cord. One direction will tighten it against the cord and the other direction will loosen the cords. 

Eye hook- Eye hooks are placed about every ten inches or so on the mounting blocks and guide the cords from the shade up into the cord lock.














If there are any terms you have heard that you are unfamiliar with that you want to know more about or see images of let me know for our upcoming segment, "Ask Melissa."