Energise your home
Inject personality, colour and style into your home with the wide range of
textiles, wallcoverings and decorating options available to South African
homeowners.
When decorating your home - either for the first time, or simply to refresh your existing
decor - it is important to choose the right fabric for soft furnishings. We asked interior
design guru, Marcia Margolius, to share some of her tips with us.
Marcia Margolius is the author of several home decor books, and force behind the best selling, annual publication, SA Decor and Design. The 12th edition of SA Decor and Design is now available.
Visit: www.sadecor.co.za for more information.
1. Bear in mind when ordering
fabric quantities in excess of
a ‘piece’ (approx 50 metres)
that there could be colour
variance from roll to roll.
Fabrics are printed or dyed in
batches, and each batch is
likely to be slightly different.
2. ‘Railroaded’ patterns
are specially
designed for upholstery, and
cannot normally be used
for curtaining. The pattern
repeats along the length
of the roll where the design
stands vertically between the
selvedge. If one tries to join
widths in the normal way, the
design direction will become
horizontal (i.e. the pattern will
seem to be lying on its side).
3. Prints can also
change from one
batch to another,
but the more
colours are used
in the design, the
less noticeable the
differences will be.
If the cotton look
and character is
what you’re after,
there is no substitute
for it; just remember
that plain dyed
cottons will fade
more readily than
polyesters, acrylics
and viscose.
4. Pattern matching of
vertical stripes and fabrics
with a random all-over
pattern is relatively simple,
and is more suited to
multiple drops and larger
surfaces. Always check
your fabrics for flaws
before cutting. While
most fabric distributors will
normally allow a full credit
if fabrics are returned,
once material has been
made up, it is rendered
worthless and you cannot
be refunded.
5. Be extremely careful
when making up
materials with a
horizontal pattern.
Almost all fabrics
are skew due to
the weaving and
finishing processes,
and whenever a line
is visually ‘picked up’
across the width, the
problem of matching
arises. Skilled curtainmakers
often straighten
material on the table
before sewing, merely
‘easing’ it into shape by
pulling it gently.
6. Certain fabrics tend to be less stable than
others, resulting in shrinkage or ‘dropping’.
Sometimes materials ‘pucker’, especially fine
yarns such as silk. It helps to hang the curtains
in situ before hemming to allow the fabric
to stabilise. Only then should hems be handsewn
in.