Fabulous Synthetic Curtains and Drapery Fabrics

Fabulous Synthetic Curtains and Drapery Fabrics

Fabulous Synthetic Curtains and Drapery Fabrics

Increasingly you will find fabulous synthetic curtains and drapery fabrics in the stores. Whether it is a "concealed" plastic that is, a plastic you would never dream was plastic unless you were told, such as a velvet pile of nylon or a filmy lace or whether it is a fabric more easily recognized as synthetic, such as rubber-like shower curtain material or plastic film, there are certain advantages you should appreciate and certain things you should know about these test-tube materials. First of all, not all plastics have the same properties; try to get a brand name plastic or synthetic that is labeled and tells what it will do. Follow directions for laundering, cleaning and care. Inquire as to the fiber blend if the material is not a pure plastic.

In sewing plastic film materials, handle them lightly. Try not to baste, tack or pin, as you won't be able to repair the holes made. Use Scotch tape instead for preliminary marking, or try paper clips or weights. Don't press or crease your plastic fabric, either. Plastics of this type are easily stitched. Use a fine needle and a mercerized thread, or if sewing a nylon or other plastic fiber fabric, use nylon thread. These threads are said to possess the pliability of cotton, with the strength and elasticity of nylon.

Newest of the synthetics is orlon, a synthetic fiber which is said to be virtually indestructible by the elements that is, by sun, light and heat. Orion can be hung at windows that get strong sunlight or over radiators without fear that this will ultimately weaken them. While nylon has what is called "static electricity" and has a tendency to stick to the windows, orlon is not affected in this way. Orion is little sheerer than nylon, with a trifle more body, and because of this you can get a good drape with it.

Nylon today is being produced in a wide range of traditional weaves and in many beautiful colors; in its sheer and marquisette forms it leads the other synthetics in sheerness and softness and in the delicacy of its colors. Nylon marquisette is the most practical of the nylon fabrics, taking the place of conventional sheer cottons and rayons, but bringing a new laundering ease. Nylon ninon, more opaque than the marquisettes, is a favorite for draperies, glass curtains used without draperies, and for wall-to-wall draw curtains. Nylon lace retains its shape after washing and need not be stretched. Lighter and sheerer than lace woven of conventional cottons, it has an almost silvery sheen. Other glass curtain possibilities of nylon include a new tricot novelty weave, white on white Jacquards, satin weaves, sheer plain weaves embroidered in white with little flowers, very sheer novelty striped taffetas, and faille. There is also a closely- woven voile.

Fabulous Synthetic Curtains and Drapery Fabrics

Deterioration is not a serious factor with plastic fibers of a glossy type, and strong sunlight affects nylon, for example, less than taffeta and silk. But dull yarns are more quickly harmed by exposure to sunlight, and nylon velvets and other pile fabrics should not be hung at windows that get long exposure to sun.

Fiberglas is heavier than nylon or orlon, but because it is spun from actual marbles of limpid glass, it has a quality of translucence and a delightful shimmering quality. It is available in many pastel shades, and makes an effective wall-to-wall drapery.

You can put draperies of plastic or fiberglass away for winter or summer without fearing mildew. Plastic and glass fabrics are easy to keep clean because they shed dirt and dust. If the dyes and finishes are color- fast, then washing presents no problem, and since the fibers are smooth and don't hold water, the fabrics dry quickly. The spun nylons, cut into soft, fuzzy yarns, dry more slowly.

As you can see the subject of fabrics is a vast one, with many variations and possibilities offered the discriminating. It is foolhardy to make rules about which fabrics go with which styles of decorating, as contemporary decoration increasingly adopts materials associated with periods and schools of design no longer fashionable, and brings them up to date with modern colors and methods of manufacture. Thus brocades, taffetas, matelass6s (which are made of soft double compound fabrics with a quilted appearance) are in high style once more as decorative fashion takes its cue from far-away places or the past.

Fabulous Synthetic Curtains and Drapery Fabrics

Today, for example, there is new interest in documentary fabrics. Documentaries are not merely the small, repetitive patterns of calico for use in French Provincial or Early American rooms, that many people think them to be. They are rather those fabric designs that were worked out long ago by craftsmen as, for example, a French artist in Paris during the time of

Louis XVI, or by a pioneer farm woman in the days of the settling of our own country. Those from abroad may have found their way into American hands with our clipper ships or Nantucket whalers, wrapped around some jewel or ornament a sailor was bringing home. They are, in other words, documents of the past, and in color and pattern they bring back the flavor of other days and ways of life, and so they include not only the small-scale cretonnes but the large-scale chintzes, elegant damasks and brocades. If you have a period room, the good documentary fabrics will complement the mahogany, fruitwood, walnut, maple, pine or whatever wood you have that was used by cabinetmakers of the period you have adopted.

On the whole, however, for modern rooms, we might sum up by stating that nylon, fiber glass, marquisette and ninon nets, gauze, taffeta, satin, raw silks, moires, denims and sailcloths, monk's cloth and homespun, are good. Metallic accents are used.

For French Provincial in the country, use homespun colors, calicos and cottons, toile de Jouy and documentaries. For city French Provincial use, silks and deeper colors, more decisive patterns should be employed.

For Early American use small quiet chintzes, calicos, ginghams and other cottons of this type, hand-blocked linens and cretonnes. For Victorian consider lace, the pile fabrics and brocades.

Queen Anne, Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Sheraton and other 18th century styles can associate well with richer satins, silk brocades, damask, moire, and chintz although Queen Anne is more simple than Chippendale.

General principles when selecting a fabric are: When you shop for fabrics ask what special qualities the fabric has, whether it should be washed or cleaned, and how to care for it. If it is labeled, read the label before buying it.