Whats different about home fabrics?
No matter where you purchase them, fabrics for the home are different from garment fabrics in several ways, both in how they are made and how they are intended to be used. Here are some of the main areas of difference: Width and print orientation—Most fabrics for the home are either 54 in. wide, or extra wide, at 110 in. or 118 in. Extra-wide fabrics are usually intended for unlined sheer curtains, and are meant to be “railroaded,” or run sideways with the selvage at the top and bottom of the curtains, allowing the curtains to be made without seams. Many narrower fabrics are also meant to be railroaded to avoid seams, for example, across the back of a couch. If these fabrics have a pattern, it will be oriented so that it’s upright when the selvages are at top and bottom, as shown in the drawings above. Hence, if you use the narrower, patterned fabric for curtains, your motif will be sideways. Watch out for “railroading”: Fabrics intended to run with selvages horizontal (as for sofa bac
