Start with what the fabric has to do
Colour is what you notice first and it is rarely what decides the job. Weight, texture, drape and the way a cloth answers daylight change how a curtain hangs and how the room reads once it is up.
The order that works is simple. Decide what the curtain has to do in that room, narrow to two or three fabric types, then confirm the exact cloth with a sample in your own light.
Browse by fabric type
Everything sits in the curtain fabrics collection. From there it is quicker to work by type, because type tells you more about how a curtain will behave than a colour name does.
- Linen and linen-look fabrics. Textured plains that give a curtain depth without committing you to a pattern, and are easy to coordinate with what is already in the room.
- Velvet fabrics. A distinctive handle and a strong response to light. Use velvet where you want the curtain to feel deliberately substantial rather than to recede.
- Cotton fabrics. A familiar starting point where you want a quieter cloth and a straightforward look.
- Textured fabrics. Interest that comes from the weave rather than from a print, which reads well in rooms that already have a lot going on.
- Patterned fabrics. Floral, geometric and decorative designs, for windows you want to lead the room.
- Sheer and voile fabrics. Light cloths that soften daylight and add movement. How much daytime screening you get depends on the fabric, the light outside and the time of day.
- Blackout and dimout fabrics. Grouped for rooms where controlling daylight matters. How much light any particular fabric or lining holds back varies, so ask us before you settle on one.
Colour, and why the room decides it
A colour on screen is not the colour you will live with. Screens vary, and so does the room. A north-facing room cools most colours down, a south-facing one warms them, and everything shifts again under lamps at night.
Hold a sample against the wall you will actually see it next to, in daylight and after dark, before you commit.
Pattern at curtain scale
A repeat that looks neat on a small swatch behaves differently across a full drop. Large designs open out and can lose their rhythm once the curtain is gathered; small ones can disappear into texture.
Gather the sample in your hand rather than holding it flat. That is closer to what you will see at the window.
Ashley Wilde
We stock furnishing fabrics from Ashley Wilde. If you are working from an Ashley Wilde reference, or you have seen a design and want to know whether we hold it, start on the Ashley Wilde fabrics page.
See it before you commit
Texture and colour are the two things a photograph cannot settle. Request samples of your shortlist and live with them for a few days before ordering. Samples are free, you can have up to eight at a time, and postage within the UK is free as well. There is more on the fabric samples page.
From fabric to finished window
Fabric is one of three decisions, and they interact. The lining changes light, privacy, handle and insulation, so read the curtain linings guide before you fix on a cloth. The heading changes how the fabric gathers and how formal it looks.
Heavier fabrics also need adequate support, which affects the pole or track and how many brackets it takes. Worth checking as you choose, not afterwards.
When you know roughly what you want, move on to made-to-measure curtains, which are made to the measurements you supply. If you would rather talk it through with someone first, we offer a free design consultation.