Once-Popular Vintage Curtain Fabrics That Are Making A Big Comeback

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Curtains can be a beautiful way to soften up a room around the windows, where they also grant functional properties like privacy and light blocking. Recent trends have brought a return to more traditional ways of covering windows after a couple decades where treatments like Roman shades and Venetian blinds, along with lightweight fabrics like cotton, linen, and muslin, were often the preferred method. Newer decor trends, however, have brought the return of both patterns and texture to window treatments. Because of this, fabrics that once reigned in popularity during the mid-to-latter half of the 20th century are having a moment. Materials like toile, chintz, lace, velvet, and bark cloth are cropping up more and more in modern spaces.

These opulent fabrics revel in texture and pattern, often boasting traditional and retro designs that fit a wide number of room aesthetics. Unlike lighter fabrics that recede into the background of your design scheme, these richer textiles take more of a center stage approach, becoming a more dominant element in drawing a design together and setting the tone, whether it's the beauty of lace or floral chintz in a cottage-style room, a funky retro bark cloth design in a mid-century modern home, or the richness of thick velvet in a glam-style space.

Rising to popularity in 18th century France, toile is a printed fabric that usually presents floral designs or illustrated scenes in a single color on a white background. The subject matter could vary from bucolic countryside tableau to botanicals, mythology, and historic locales. It's a classic look that often still crops up in more traditionally decorated rooms, where it offers a sophisticated elegance in shades like red, navy blue, green, and black.

Adding toile curtains to your space brings in a distinct vintage vibe, even in an all-neutral and minimalist space, where it can be a great alternative to solid curtains. It adds interest and draws the eye to the windows without overwhelming the room with busy patterning. There are also very fun and non-traditional toile designs that offer a fresh take on an old pattern, like Spoonflower's alien abduction design, Urban Outfitters' fun frog toile, and the slightly risque Sin in Linen curtains. 

Lace curtains, while always a classic standard for covering windows in the 20th century, are remerging in popularity, especially in cottage or boho-style spaces, to give your room a vintage touch. Producing more transparent curtains meant to soften the windows and still allow the light and air through, lace is often a popular fabric for layering with others for a beautiful eclectic curtain look. When used alone, lace curtains give off a feminine and romantic aesthetic. The varieties of lace designs are endless, from more traditional floral motifs to simple and geometric ones like these ZJDecor White Lace Curtains.

Use a set of lace cafe curtains for the lower half of an over-the-sink window or cover a large window with a single lace panel for a spare and stylish look. Lace curtains are also lovely when hung in doorways to create privacy or around beds for a romantic Old-European look. For an unexpected twist, opt for a patchwork lace curtain over a balcony or patio door.

This patterned fabric has its roots in Indian block printed fabrics. Later, chintz became one of the first manufactured textiles popular in Victorian homes.  It's a term also used to describe a thicker floral cotton printed fabric with a slightly shiny or glazed appearance. Today, it can usually be found in lush and colorful versions that feature florals and botanicals as their chief subject matter. It was a look that was very popular in the 1980s, when you would find entire rooms covered in chintz, from curtains and upholstery to accents like throw pillows and lampshades.  You can often still find it now used in curtains, upholstery, and bedding, though the texture of the fabric may vary. A great modern example is the chinoiserie-patterned textiles cropping up everywhere in draperies, like the repeating floral landscape of Anthropologie's Judarn Printed Cotton Curtain.

The rich patterning makes the material often stand out and dominate a room, but it can be an excellent element for pattern mixing, especially when combined with classic patterns like stripes. It's also perfect to use for drapery, especially in a room that doesn't have a lot of other patterns in it. It's also beautiful when layered with lace or sheer panels. 

Rich velvet is another fabric that has been popular as a window treatment for centuries, but which is emerging again along with other textured and luxurious-feeling fabrics. While once associated with heavy Victorian-style draperies that blocked the light and gave rooms a claustrophobic feeling, today's velvets are softer and more delicately wrought. Beautiful options include Anthropologie's Velvet Embroidered Floral Curtain and Amazon's JIUZHEN Stone Blue Velvet Curtains in a soft pastel shade that is anything but heavy. 

Combine velvet curtain panels with lace ones for a romantic look. Or use them alone for a more modern and contemporary aesthetic. These curtains often look beautiful pulled back with gorgeous brass tie backs. They fit a number of different design styles depending on the shade of velvet you choose, with neutrals, browns, and grays being perfect to add another layer of texture in all-neutral spaces or soft colors like dusty rose and olive green perfect for boho rooms. They also work perfectly for creating more budget-friendly glam rooms, since velvet curtains usually look far more expensive than they are. 

This fun retro woven fabric has a huge selection of pattern options, from fun tropical florals and atomic-inspired prints to retro music imagery and western motifs. It takes its thick woven texture from its original means of production, which involved spinning the interior bark of tropical trees into durable fabric. You mostly find it used for draperies and vintage upholstery from the mid-century, but the popularity of deadstock vintage fabric has it turning up in other design contexts today. In addition to vintage curtains and fabric, there are still manufacturers creating it in an abundance of retro-inspired designs. Etsy and eBay are great sources for finding uncut fabric and vintage curtains made from vintage barkcloth.

Bark cloth can add an immediate retro feel to your curtains or draperies, especially if you favor a tropical or Balinese aesthetic. The thick and durable fabric blocks light very well and grants privacy more than some other fabrics. The woven texture and pattern can be busy or simple, more neutral or lushly colorful.