Silk Drapery Panels   

For practical reasons curtains and drapes are used to control the amount of natural light entering a room and for privacy. For a special touch of elegance, silk drapery panels are a superb choice for a stunning and intriguing window covering.

Silk is a high-class type of fabric due to its labour intensive cultivating methods; royalty or the very rich only used it in history.  The cocoon made be the caterpillar is where silk if from.  Each cocoon contains a thread equal to about two thirds of a mile and to make one pound of silk it takes 2500 cocoons.  It is yet another beauty extracted from nature.  The many special qualities make silk good to use as a blend with other materials.  Linen, rayon and cotton blend beautifully and still show the sheen of silk.  The lower cost and heavier weight are other good reasons for a silk blend.  Just 7-10 % of silk will create a fabric with the shiny silk look.  One very important note to make is that, although silk is an extremely strong fabric, the sun very negatively affects it.  To counteract this, you should interline as well as line your silk drapes and not use in south facing windows or where there is all day sun.

Drapery and curtains are both window coverings made of fabric and that’s where their similarities end.  To be very brief; curtains hang from a rod, are manually moved by pushing or pulling the fabric and don’t involve lining.  Drapes will always have a lining (and sometimes and interlining), are moved by a pull cord and hung with hooks on a traverse rod.

Some of the wonderful features of drapery or curtains are their wide array of options to get really creative with.  Unique styles using a variety of fabrics create very different results.  For the simplicity of curtains you can still make them look unique and intriguing depending on the fabric weight, colour and how you choose to hang them.  Curtains can be hung from rings, tabs or rod pockets, which all easily slide onto a rod.  This style of window treatment can be thoughtfully accessorized with just the right decorative rod.  There are many options from basic ball shapes to intricate and creative designs on the ends of the rod.  Although silk would not be appropriate for curtains as they would not stand up well against the sun, there are polyester blends called faux-silk to get the lightweight and shiny silk quality without the expensive price tag.

Dress up or dress down your window depending on the overall decorating effect you’re going for.  Fabric can open up so many options that you may find it difficult to determine what is best for your situation.  Looking at different styles in decorating magazines, books and TV shows will help you see the wide array of styles out there and whether silk drapery panels are your style, eventually you’ll see something that appeals to you and fits perfectly in your home.