Fabric samples are free, and so is the postage within the UK. Ask for up to eight at a time and we will get them out to you, usually within a few working days.
They are worth asking for, because fabric on a screen and fabric at your window are two different things. This page explains what a sample tells you that a photograph cannot, how to narrow a shortlist before you ask, and what to do with the samples once they arrive.
Why sample at all
Colour is the obvious reason. A fabric photographed under studio lighting can read warmer, cooler or several shades lighter than it does in a north-facing room at four o'clock on a winter afternoon. Seeing the real thing in your own light is the only reliable check.
Texture and weight are the less obvious reasons, and often the more important ones. Weight decides how a curtain falls, how deep the folds sit and how much support the pole or track has to give. You can feel that in a sample in a way you cannot judge from an image.
Pattern scale is the third. A repeat that looks neat in a photograph is frequently much larger in the hand, and larger again once the fabric is gathered, where a good part of the design disappears into the folds.
Narrow the shortlist first
Sampling works best once the big decisions are made. Settle what the curtains have to do, choose a colour family, then pick a small number of candidates within it. Comparing four fabrics carefully tells you far more than comparing twenty in a pile.
If you are still at the beginning, work through find your perfect curtains first. Then browse the fabrics pages, the curtain fabrics collection and the Ashley Wilde fabrics page to build your list.
How to ask for samples
Tell us which fabrics you are considering and we will take it from there. Send your shortlist with a free design consultation request, or get in touch and name the fabrics you have in mind.
Ask for up to eight samples at a time. They are free of charge, we pay the postage within the UK, and they usually arrive within a few working days. There is no separate sample request form on the site, so the contact page and the consultation form are the two routes.
Eight is a working limit rather than an obstacle. If you are specifying several rooms at once, say so and we will sort out what you need.
What to do when they arrive
- Hold each sample against the window itself rather than flat on a table. Light through fabric looks nothing like light on fabric.
- Look at them in daylight and again with the lamps on. Warm artificial light shifts colour more than most people expect.
- Put them beside the things that are staying: the flooring, the wall colour, the upholstery and the woodwork.
- Gather the sample in your hand instead of laying it flat, so you can see how the colour and the pattern behave in folds.
- Leave them at the window for a day or two before deciding. First reactions to fabric are unreliable.
Pole and track finishes
Hardware finishes are worth checking in the room for the same reason. A brushed metal and a satin metal can look almost identical on screen and quite different against your own window frame and door furniture.
Pole and track finish samples are available on request, so name the finishes you are weighing up in the same message as your fabric shortlist. The finishes pages and the article on choosing a curtain pole finish cover how the main finishes behave in different rooms.
Once the fabric is settled
With a fabric chosen, the decisions left are the lining and the heading. The curtain linings guide explains what each lining changes in the room, and made-to-measure curtains sets out how a pair is specified to the measurements you supply.
If your shortlist crosses several ranges and you are not sure they will sit together, ask before you order. That is what the consultation is for.