How to Select Curtains Durability and Texture

In purchasing curtain materials we must consider their durability, texture, color and design. Sometimes the cost of the fabric itself is not large, but the trouble and expense of making up warrants getting a substantial material.

With thin materials to be used against the glass, do not get too coarse a mesh. It will shrink so much at the first washing as to be useless. Get an even weave, else the curtain will be difficult to hem and will not hang straight. To use with linen overhangings, buy a weave similar to the weave of the linen. A hard thread evenly woven will give the best service. If the material is to be used with linen, a scrim is preferable to a net or marquisette, as the texture of the weave is a better match. With overhangings of silk, a fine soft cream scrim is best. The scrim should have the texture consistent with a rich material. With velour and damask, an excellent quality of net should be used, preferably with a lace edging.

In over-draperies there are several things to be considered. Never hang two thin materials at the same window. If the undercurtains are thin, the texture of the over-draperies must not be transparent. If we want to hang thin, transparent, colored curtains at the windows, it is best not to put anything else at the same window. Often one pair of curtains, thin and colored, are sufficient, particularly in a bedroom. Two pairs would be enveloping.

Attractive, thin, sunfast materials in various weaves and in beautiful colors make up into excellent hangings. They are semi-transparent and thus give a pretty glow of color in the room, and they are decorative as well. The finish is mercerized, giving an appearance of fineness, and the colors are well toned and refined. Certain of these sunfast materials are finished with a soft cottony fuzz which makes up badly, as it clings. The same objection is found against madras.

Brushed aside, it sticks in an untidy fold. Sometimes this may be avoided by adding a row of tiny weights in the hem; the curtains then fall in straight folds. However, with the windows open and the curtains blowing, the weights thrash about noisily and give hard wear to the curtains. A flat fold of wool may be stitched in the hem to give the desired weight and thus overcome somewhat the clinging quality. It were best, however, not to purchase such material.

Another important feature to avoid in thin materials is a weave with a black warp. In the hand it is pretty enough, but with the light through it, it is dingy, and if the colors fade you have nothing more than a grayish thin covering at your window, which is distinctly homely.

Cretonnes are always an attractive window hanging. These may be used with or without under-curtains. The background colors should match the colors of the scrim. If the cretonne is white with flowers, the scrim should be white; if tan, or any other color, an ecru or beige-colored scrim is advisable.

Cretonne is best unlined, as the texture allows the light to come through, leaving the pattern distinct and giving the color full value. In most linens or loosely woven fabrics it is the reverse, and they require lining. The light coming through obliterates the pattern and we see only the texture and indistinct masses of color.

When the light does not show through, as at night, we get, of course, the flat pattern of the material in all its color and design. The cretonne or chintzes of foreign make have the best texture. It is finely and evenly woven, and therefore takes and retains the dye color. The design is often historical and the colors are carried out true to the tradition of the best design.

Foreign chintzes, therefore, are preferable to those made in America.