September, 1921 
37 
FABRICS FOR THE ROOM THAT IS DIFFERENT 
Decorative in Design , They Can Be Used Successfully 
as Curtains or Panels 
S INCE the first hand-painted calico cur¬ 
tain was used to screen the apartments 
of an Indian princess, gaily printed 
cotton and linen materials have been used suc¬ 
cessfully in every room in the house. There is 
a gaiety and informality about this kind of 
fabric that is especially adaptable to the coun¬ 
try cottage and enough dignity in pattern and 
coloring to make the usual city house a little 
more livable. Also there is color—and end¬ 
less combinations of it—which in itself is rea¬ 
son enough. 
Some new fabrics that are unusual and ex¬ 
tremely decorative take their design from a set 
of old Chinese wall paper panels, now in Lon¬ 
don, and which came originally from an old 
palace in Pekin. The theme is the lovely 
branching jade tree, one of the earliest exam¬ 
ples of Chinese decorative art. There were 
originally six different motifs in the series and 
these have been reproduced on a fine quality 
of South Sea Island cotton that is deep buff 
in color. The designs, which are stencilled 
by hand, are in the soft tones of the jade tree 
originals. Each one is 9' long by 50 wide. 
They can be used as curtains and would be 
These fabrics can be used effectively as 
curtains or set into panels in the wall. The 
designs were taken from old Chinese wall 
paper 
mm 
The colors in the 
designs are soft 
greens and browns 
with an occasional 
note of red. The 
bowls are deep blue 
and the little 
stands black 
effective in a room with woodwork and walls 
the same soft buff shade as the background of 
the material; or the woodwork might be black 
to carry out the general Chinese feeling and to 
harmonize with the little teakwood stands in 
the design. 
They may also be used as panels set into 
molding much as the original wall paper was 
used, and as each design is slightly different, 
an unusual and striking room could be made. 
Paint the woodwork a deep blue, the blue of 
the Chinese bowls in the design and antique it. 
Let the furniture be a dull Chinese red and I 
should use thin silk hangings of this same 
warm color to offset the dark woodwork. The 
glass curtains can be buff colored gauze that 
ties up with the background of the panels and 
for variey, add a pair of jade green vases. 
The room will have color, will be distinctive 
and different owing to the interesting use of 
the fabric as panels. 
This material has all the qualities that have 
endeared chintz to us for generations with the 
added interest of a new and rather striking 
pattern. And the fact that the design of each 
curtain or panel is different adds variety. 
Jade trees, used early in Chinese decora¬ 
tive art are reproduced in all the soft tones 
of the originals. Fabrics shown by courtesy 
of Erskine Danforth 
A. 
The curtains are 9' 
long by 50" wide 
and tile design is 
hand stencilled on a 
fine quality of South 
Sea Island cotton 
