WHEN SHOULD WINDOW TREATMENTS BE LINED?

With the exception of sheers, all custom window treatments should be lined. Lining can make an inexpensive fabric look like a million bucks! It helps the pleats and folds hang gracefully. A window treatment that is lined also looks good longer because over time, sunlight will cause fading and rot. If a drapery is lined, the lining will take the abuse. Another reason for the lining: It confines the fabric's hems and raw edges that result from the construction of the window treatment.

Window treatments play a critical role in transforming rooms into unified Warm and welcoming homes; lined draperies and valances give a neater appearance when viewing the home from outdoors.

Most drapery lining fabrics are a polyester-cotton blend in white or off-white. When making swags, jabots, and other treatments where the lining shows from the front- for instance, at the edges of pleats- they should have a decorative fabric (not a plain lining fabric) on both sides of the window treatment. The same fabric or a coordinating one would be used to maximize the decorative effect.

Unlined sheers can be used as a secondary window treatment (typically under Another heavier type of drapery or curtain) or as a main treatment that's Translucent, letting light come through but diffusing it. Sheer window Treatments are fabricated 300 percent fullness, which means that there's Three times as much fabric width as window width. For example, if a Window is 40 inches wide, the sheer fabric- if laid out flat- measures 120 Inches. This fullness increases privacy. Sheers can be pinch-pleated and Hooked onto a traverse rod, or they can be gathered onto a plain valance rod.