Monday, October 5, 2009

How to Purchase Fabric

Images from Fabricut Website.
There are many things to consider when shopping for fabric for your windows. Sometimes you might fall in love with a fabric and then realize it's not suitable for the type of treatment desired. Silks look great with a lot of fullness where a thicker fabric would do better on a cornice. Another consideration is how much to buy. Calculating correct yardage can be difficult when the pattern has a large pattern repeat. If you find an incredible deal on a fabric that you must have, be sure to purchase more than you think you need. If you have extra, you can use it to make accessories like table skirts, pillows, place mats or runners. They will all add to the custom look of the room.

Be sure to look at the fabric sample in the room because like paint, lighting will affect how it looks. Also, view your fabric at a distance to make sure the scale is right for the treatment and the room. If your fabric is on clearance, look for flaws and get extra if there are any.

There are so many gorgeous fabrics to choose from and you don't need to spend a fortune on fabric to have stunning window treatments. By using professional techniques and a good quality lining, even a moderately priced fabric can look wonderful.

If you have your heart set on an expensive fabric, you can use it for just the valance and do the draperies from a coordinating solid like I did in my Mom's log cabin living room. Or you could do a roman shade because it uses less fabric than draperies.

What's the most you could see yourself paying per yard for fabric ?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... Usually as little as possible, but I guess it would really depend on the room and my budget at the time. This is all great advice! My first design related job was in a furniture showroom and I almost refused to sell customers upholstered pieces without them seeing the fabric in their own light. They were usually amazed at how different it looked! Have a good day, Tammy!
pk @ room remix

Design Esquire said...

Great advice! So far, the most I spent on fabric was about $35 a yard, but I only needed two and a half yards for the project, so I didn't mind splurging on the it. Usually I spend a lot less than that!

Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions said...

The most I've spent was about $19.95 a yard {for chairs I'm going to be doing soon actually}, but since it was about 6 yards for the seats, I was okay with it. I always check out whats in the clearance section because you never know what you might find. I've found some fancy fabric scraps that were enough to make a pillow and that's good enough for me!

I always recommend that for a more expensive fabric that my clients may really like, but the price is holding them back, to do a valance with it.

kim said...

Hi Tammy-new to this blog comment stuff so I hope this is the way I'm supposed to reply to your comment you left me lol. thanks for stopping by my blog yesterday! I can't wait to have time later to check out your blog!

Design A-Peele said...

great info!

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