The word toile comes from a French word meaning “linen cloth” or “canvas”, a cloth for painting on. Toile fabrics will have a white or off white background and use one primary color, most often black, blue or a dark red. The fabrics will use a repeating pattern that depict a theme usually pastoral, showing people and small animals in nature. This green toile fabric is used on a balloon valance. The balloon valance style allows the pastoral scene to be perfectly centered on each billow, conveying the romance that is associated with this type of fabric.
by Susan Dorbeck