Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Why some fabric doesn't work for Roman Shades

This is a post from last year, but I just wanted to remind everyone why you can't just pick any fabric for a roman shade.
 Fabric Choices for Window Treatments


Not all fabrics are suitable for all projects. While you can use any type of fabric for a window treatments, they are not all appropriate. Today we will focus on the Roman Shade and I will show you some samples.

For a Roman Shade the ideal fabrics are thick and sturdy such as cotton duck, canvas, burlap, 100% flax linen (like the imperial trellis) and even upholstery weight fabrics:




Even upholstery weight fabrics makes a lovely roman shade.

Now see if you can tell the difference looking at the followinf pictures. The next few pictures are Roman Shades meade from fabrics that are not ideal, particularly light weigth quilters cottons.

Dupioni silk

Light weight quilters' cotton


Another Dupioni Silk


In the case of the two samples above, notive that the one on the left lays flat and has no body. The one on the right has som lift and body to each roll. The one on the left is a light weight quilters cotton. The one on the left is a medium weight drapery cotton. You can also see this in the pictures above with the silk and other light weight cotton, there is no body or lift to them. They just lay flat with no personality. While the ideal fabrics are more expensive it is clear that they are worth the expense. You will be much happier with your product if you put the money into the more appropriate fabrics for your particular project.

When shopping around for fabric for your project, be sure to look in the home decor fabrics section. That is where you will find the ideal fabric choices for your custom window treatments.

On the right collumn of my page underneath "Buy Fabric for your Custom Window Treatments" are four options to choose from for fabric. Almost anything in those options is appropriate as long as it says, "home decor fabric" or "drapery weight."




1 comment:

  1. The window treatments are not going to experience the constant wear that a sofa or area rug see, so you have a greater fabric and trim selection to use on them. Thanks for sharing.

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