Choosing Fabric to
Sew Window Treatments

When you sew window treatments, using quality fabric is key, because the better quality fabric smoothly drapes, pleats well and has more body, which means professional looking results.

The right type of fabric has to suit the window treatment. The fiber content, weave and weight of your fabric is going to have an influence on the durability and ability to control light, and impact the finished appearance of your window treatment.

Sheer and lightweight fabrics do well where you are just interested in softening the windows and allowing the natural light to filter in, while opaque fabric adds warmth to a room and patterns create a visual interest.

Common fabrics to sew window treatments are brocade, canvas, cotton, duck, crewel, damask, gingham, lace, linen, moire, muslin, organdy, satin, silk, taffeta, tapestry, Toiles and velvet. (See the textile dictionary for more about the different fabrics.)

Of course some fabrics are going to do better than others and all fabrics are subject to fading. Cotton, linen and polyesters are good choices, but never use silk or silk blends without using a liner. Silk fibers will rot very quickly in the sunlight.

Canvas for example is an excellent choice for a shade but is a little too stiff for a swag.

Voile is a good choice to sew window treatments like that, because of the way it drapes. It won’t however offer enough body for a pleated treatment, and tapestry is best suited for straight panels rather than draperies that are meant to tie back.

Test a fabric’s draping ability by holding (at least two yards) at one end in one hand and check how it drapes.

• Does it fall into natural folds?
• Look at the way the pattern falls when it is gathered. Ask someone to hold the fabric so you can look at it from a few feet away.

Width

Most likely the fabric you will use when you sew window treatments will be either 54 inches wide or extra wide at 110 or 118 inches.

The fabric you find that is extra wide is generally used for unlined sheers and will run with the finished edges (selvage) at the top and at the bottom allowing the curtains to be made without seams.

If the fabric is narrower than your drapery width, railroading fabrics will enable you to avoid seams.

Cornices, stagecoach valences and other window treatments with wide flat expanses are a few examples where you might want to use a fabric that doesn't require a seam or one that can be railroaded.

Railroad means that if you stand the fabric bolt on its end and roll out the fabric from left to right, the pattern would be continuously coming out from the roll. Just think of railroad tracks.

Pattern Repeat

If the fabric you selected has a pattern, you will want to determine how often the pattern repeats itself. It could be a vertical repeat where the pattern repeats itself in an up and down fashion or in a horizontal fashion where the pattern repeats side by side.

You will want to be sure you sew window treatments by starting at the same place on the fabric, so that the patterns are aligned with each other on adjacent panels and the design isn’t jumping around.

Normally a horizontal repeat will allow you to match the pattern straight across the piece of fabric to the next piece at the same place.

And if that is not enough to think about there are half drop repeats. A half drop repeat is half of a vertical repeat up or down and requires more fabric to ensure you can match up the patterns.

You can easily develop a color palette based on your existing pieces in the room.

When you narrow down your choices, collect various samples (try to get as large of a sample as possible) that you like and try them in the room to see how they are going to look.

The best way is to hang the swatches next to the window you are planning to sew window treatments for. Take note of them at various times during the day and at night, noting the fabric’s opacity and how well the colors hold up.

Colors that look good in the evening can sometimes appear washed out in the daylight, or colors that are good during the daytime can look muddy at night.

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