Roni LaBree

What do you have to be looking for in a drapery fabric?

The three prime considerations for drapery fabric are:

1 - Will the drapery fabric look good in the room?

2 - Will it hang well?

3 - Will the fabric be suitable for the environment you are working on?

Draperies are not something you replace each year so you need to get these questions right. The last thing you need is to have to live for years with curtains that you no longer like.

Will the drapery fabric look nice in the room?

Fabric sample books used to be the bible for understanding what colours and patterns were available. Each drapery shop would have a collection of these sample books but these books only held a minute bit of the available fabrics.

Now with the Internet, it is possible to find those rarer patterns and styles. No longer will all of the homes in the area have curtains made of the same material.

Will it hang well? You cannot tell how well a fabric will hang from taking a look at a picture of the pattern. At times you'll be shown a picture of it made up into curtains, but this doesn't occur that frequently.

This is the reason why you want to purchase on a site that specialises in drapery fabric. Expert advice should be available to inform you as to what fabrics will be the best for what you are trying to do.

Will the fabric be acceptable for the environment you're dealing with?

There are two points to consider here: Will it be suitably durable given the amount of heat and cold it is going to be exposed to, and how easy will it be to wash?

Look at all the colours in the different rooms and decide how they're going to fit in with the fabric.

While some fabrics like silk can look impressive, they are not extraordinarily sturdy around kids and pets. Children and pets also are one of the key causes for curtains getting stained or damaged.

Selecting the right fabric can ensure your choice will be valued for years to come.