Glossary

Broderie Anglaise
White cotton fabric with white embroidered patterns. Often associated with little girls dresses or “Country Style” decorating.

Bump
Interlining imported from England, heavy weight, cotton used for lining silk

Calico
Plain woven cotton that comes bleached or unbleached. Uses: Curtain linings, craft projects, pattern making.

Chintz
Glazed cotton that repels dust and dirt. This glazed finish will wear off with repeated washing. Fabric has a subtle shine.

Colour Wheel
Used for choosing colours. It arranges primary colours (red, blue and yellow) in a circle and on the outside of this circle are the mixtures of the primaries known as secondary colours (greens, orange, violet etc.).

Contemporary Style
A clean design; no clutter, no mess - just a smart style.

Continuous Fabric
Fabric that is manufactured to avoid seams or joins. Continuous curtains are usually sheers and come ready made in a number of different drops.

Corduroy
Plain weave fabric with a cut pile in a rib style pattern. Normally made from 100% cotton. The ribs in the fabric are available in different sizes, from very thin (pinwale) to very wide (wide wale).

Cotton Pique
The way this is produced on a dobby loom usually results in a fabric with small geometric patterns.

Cotton Drill
Unevenly woven fabric that mixes well with other fabrics. Great for children’s rooms or pieces that need to be hard wearing.

Country Look
This style uses wooden features, rich terracotta tiles and earthenware accessories to recreate that quaint country cottage.

Custom-made Treatments
A window covering made to the exact window measurements or specifications. Custom made items include all types of window coverings.

Hessian
A hemp and jute mix fabric. Has a tendency to moult.

Hopsack
A loosely woven rough fabric.

Indian Cotton
An inexpensive cotton, woven with uneven threads to create a slub appearance. Often comes in bright colours, but has a tendency to shrink and fade if left in direct sunlight. Does need to be pre-shrunk before sewing.

Inverted Pleat
A pleat formed the opposite way of a traditional box pleat, in which the edges of the pleat meet in the middle right side of the fabric.  Also know as the kick pleat

Pattern Repeat
The distance between any given point in a design to where that exact point is repeated again.

Pelmet
Fabric covered treatment constructed with a wooden headboard and fixed above the curtain rail at the top of the window. Available in many different shapes and can be made in different depths to best suit the application. Helps insulate to save energy.

Pinch Pleat
A heading style that is commonly used today. Pinch pleated drapes when drawn closed will conceal the tracking and created regular folds. Usually has three folds of fabric (pleats) evenly spaced along the heading.

Pleated Blinds
Individual fabrics positioned horizontally. Can be made with metallised fabrics to considerably reduce heat and glare. Has the option of being made as a Twin Pleat which has both a sheer and a blockout fabric on the one blind, for maximum light control. Made by Verosol and covered by their 3 year guarantee.

Railroading
Some decorator fabrics use  railroading in correspondence to widths for floor-length treatments.  In this technique the lengthwise grain rans in a horizontal manner across the window treatment, making vertical seams unnecessary

Reveals
Sides to a window opening with right angles faving the wall and window

Return
The distance for the face of the rod to the wall of the casing where the bracket is attached

Roman Blind
A flat fabric blind that folds up from the bottom in concertina style, similar to Austrians in that they are drawn up with cords through small rings, or can be made to operate with a chain, similar to a roller blind.

Selvedge
The tightly woven edge on a width of fabric to hold lthe fabric together

Sheeting
Printed cotton/polyester fabric that is woven in extra wide widths to match bed sizes.

Swags and Tails
A soft fabric draped over the top of curtains in a semicircular shape so that the material falls either side of the window into a tail or cascade. Can be made on a timber headboard, or directly onto a timber pole. Swags and Tails are suited to a very formal room.

Taffeta
A fine plain weave fabric the is somooth on both sides usually with a sheen on its surface.

Tapestry
A heavy, well insulating fabric, once made in replication of hand-sewn tapestries but now produced on a jacquard loom

Ticking
Very strong twill woven cotton. Often associated with old fashioned mattresses. Comes in many different coloured stripes against an off white background.

Traditional Style
Decorating the home in the look of yester-year by recreating a certain period.

Valance
Fabric that is draped softly across the top of a window. Valances can be gathered, shirred or pleated and finished with frills, fringes and trims. They are usually attached on their own track in front of curtains, to give the window a finished look when the curtains are open.

Velvet
A warp pile cloth in which a succession of rows of short cut pile stand close together so as to give an even uniform surface.  When the pile is more than one-eighth of an inch high, the cloth is usually called Plus

Warp
The yarns which run vertically or lengthwise in woven fabric

Weft
The yarns which run horizontally in woven fabric