Portieres of Distinction 
SUGGESTIONS FOR HANGINGS THAT MAY BE MADE FROM INEXPENSIVE MATE¬ 
RIALS AND DECORATED WITH SIMPLE DESIGNS IN APPLIQUE AND EMBROIDERY 
By Louise Shrimpton 
T HERE seems to be a sad lack of originality in the hangings 
one sees to-day. It is nearly always the same old velour 
or the same old rep, guiltless of any relieving color in the way of 
an edging or an applique design. Why not get some distinction 
into these important elements of home decoration? 
After all, the portieres in a home are just as important factors 
contributing to the success or failure of the whole as are the wall 
coverings or rugs. Because they occupy less area than the things 
we put upon the walls or floors, they are only too frequently 
passed over without their due of consideration. Their importance 
and value in carrying out a comprehensive scheme of decoration 
in color and design is something that may well be reckoned with. 
It should be understood at the outset that in the short space 
allotted to this article it is quite impossible to cover the whole 
subject of portieres. It goes without saying that the designs 
illustrated herewith would be utterly incongruous in an Empire 
drawing-room, for example. In rooms, also, in which other 
French or Georgian period styles have been carried out in the 
architectural details and in the furniture, the hangings should, as a 
matter of course, be along the same lines. There are many beauti¬ 
ful fabrics from which to choose portieres for rooms furnished 
in period styles — and at prices to suit everyone: velours, linen, 
upholsterers’ velvets, silk-crinkled tapestries, brocades, corded 
silks, goat’s hair, Armures, figured tapestries — each of which 
may be found the one suitable material for a certain purpose. 
It is for the everyday American living-room, den, library, or 
hall, however, that the designs here shown would solve the problem 
of hangings — rooms where no period style has been permitted to 
assume its jealous reign, but where the furnishings are of the 
simple, unassuming character that marks modern American work 
of the best type. In such a room the note of individuality and 
distinction that any of these designs strike will be a welcome and 
unobtrusive one. 
The portieres that are described and illustrated herewith are 
all made from inexpensive materials and decorated with very 
simply executed designs. Patterns for the work can easily be 
made by anyone possessing only a very slight knowledge of 
drawing. The embroidery requires acquaintance with but few 
easy stitches. 
Of the portieres illustrated at the bottom of this page, the first 
A portiere of golden-brown Arras cloth 
with the conventionalized tulip 
in burnt-orange linen 
Pompeian-red linen, costing $1.80 a yard, 
embroidered in gray silk 
Russian crash makes an inexpensive and 
effective portiere, embellished with 
linen-and-worsted applique 
(132) 
