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Austrian Shade: A fabric shade that, when raised or lowered with a cord, scallops from top to bottom.
Balloon Shade: A fabric shade with billowing folds along the bottom that raises with a cord and ring. It balloons or puffs as the shade is raised.
Balloon Curtain: A single panel curtain with three or more scoops at the bottom that create a balloon look. Adjusts with cords strung through rings on the backside of the curtain.
Box Pleat: A style of crisp, deeply inverted pleats generally used in valances and other short window treatments, but increasingly used as a decorative header for drapery panels, giving them a much more interesting, contemporary look.
Curtains: Curtains have traditionally been defined as lightweight, unlined panels- unlike heavy, lined drapery—suspended from a rod by simple tabs, rings or rod-pocket casing.
Café Curtains: A single pair of short or panels, cafe curtains cover only the lower half of the window, allowing light and a view through the top half.
Canopy: A projected valance over a roller shade.
Cascade: Another term for a festoon or swag, a cascade is a curved, draped valance or scalloped top window treatment.
Cornice: Serving the same function as a valance, a cornice is a boxy, shallow wood covering fastened across the top of a window to conceal drapery hardware. Although it is often covered in fabric, it can be left un-upholstered and carved, painted or antiqued.
Combination Traverse Rod: Used with pleated, lace, sheer or lightweight panels. The pleated drapes are hung on the outer traverse rod. The lace, sheer or lightweight panels are hung on the inner rod. The outer rod normally projects 5" to 6 1/2" from the wall, while the inner rod projects 2" to 3" from the wall.
Concealed Track Rod: A combination of a decorative and Traverse Rod: the concealed back of the rod contains a track system for opening and closing drapery.
Cornice Pole: A pole with rings attached for hanging heavy draperies.
Curtain Drop: The length of a drapery, from the hanging system to the bottom edge of the panel.
Double-Hung Drapery: A double-layered window treatment consisting of an over-drapery and an under-drapery; these hang from separate hardware or from a double-track rod.
Double-Track Rod: Double-track rods, comprised of an inner and outer rod, are used to layer window treatments. Its design allows each treatment to open and close, or rise and fall, separately.
Drapery: The traditional term for heavyweight, lined, pinch-pleated fabric panels hung by hooks along a traverse rod and drawn by a cord and pulley system. Contemporary drapery is less rigid in its definition and, although pinch pleats are once-again popular, traverse rods and hooks have been overtaken by clip rings and decorative rods. For a list of interesting alternatives to pinch-pleat headers for draperies, see the options offered in the Drapery Styles and Trends section.
Festoon: A festoon is similar to a valance, but rather than hanging straight down from a horizontal rod, it is draped from one corner to the opposite. Not really intended to be used on its own, try coupling with jabots or panels in a matching color to create the effect of a single piece of fabric which has been artfully arranged on a curtain rod.
Festoon Shade: A decorative shade that looks like scalloped curtains when lowered. When raised, the shade is full and billowy.
Finials: The decorative carved pieces of metal or wood that adorn the ends of curtain rods.
Jabot: French for "bird's crop," a jabot is a small fabric panel pleated at the top and cut on an angle at the bottom so it drapes, exposing the front and back of the fabric. A jabot is hung on either side of top of a window and complements a swag or festoon, on each side of a window.
Hold-backs: Installed on either side of the window frame, and typically in the shape of decorative knobs, pegs or large metal hooks, hold-backs allow the drapery panels to be held open to reveal more light. The "look" of the drapery is more dramatic with hold-backs if the panels are kept together at the top of the window.
Pinch Pleat: A drapery heading or top that features a basic pleat divided into 2 or 3 smaller, equal pleats which are sewn together at bottom edge on right side of fabric. It is this style of drapery header that was popular in the mid-20 century, paired with polyester sheer curtains, and attached with hooks to a plastic traverse rod.
Plantation Shutters: On this style of shutter, slats are usually 2 1/2" to 4 1/2" wide, set into 12" to 19 1/2" wide panels inside the casement of a window.
Pleated Shade: A window blind usually made of solid or translucent fabric that stacks accordion-style when raised.
Puddled Drapery: This style of drapery is achieved when the fabric length of each panel is sewn extra long (by as much as 10 to 18 inches), so the base of the material elegantly pools or puddles into folds on the floor.
Roman Shade: A tailored fabric blind traditionally designed with wooden slats inserted horizontally at intervals down its entire length. When lowered, it hangs flat; when raised with pull cords, it gathers in soft folds.
Scarf: A long piece of fabric or a curtain panel that is looped and draped around a decorative curtain rod, through two decorative wall sconces or hooks.
Sconce: Sconces are decorative hardware made of plaster, wood or metal, and used to hold a scarf of fabric draped along the top of a window frame.
Sheers: Panels and curtains made out of translucent or see-through fabric including thin cotton, muslin, polyester, voile and silk Sheers are often layered with other fabric drapery panels.
Stack-Back: When drapery panels are attached by hooks to traverse rods, the panels can never fully open. The "stack-back" refers to the amount of space a drapery panel will take up when it's pulled back as far as it can go. Thicker, lined fabric will take up more space when bunched together, so it will have more stack-back than a light-weight fabric.
Swag: This term refers to a one-piece valance which is cut longer on either end so that it frames the entire top half of the window.
Tab Top: Panel curtains with strips of fabric sewn into loops at the top of the panel. The loops take the place of rings and slide on a rod.
Tie-Back: Similar to a hld-back, a tie-back is a fabric strip, ribbon, tassel or cord designed to hold panel curtains back on either side of the window.
Tier Curtains: Similar to café curtains, tiered curtains consist of four panels, each the length of 1/2 the height of the window in which they are to be hung. One pair is hung at the top of the window and the other pair half-way down.
Tension Rod: A spring-activated rod with rubber tips on either end, it uses tension to hold the window treatment inside the frame of recessed windows.
Traverse Rod: A utilitarian, single-track rod housing plastic carriers into which drapery pins are hooked so that pinch-pleat drapery panels open simultaneously when a cord is pulled. Because of the nature of the traverse rod, and the thickness of the draperies, a "stack-back" or width of fabric remains partially covering either side of the window.
Valance: A valance hangs across the top of a window but doesn't usually hang below a third of the window frame. Its purpose is as much decorative as it is functional: it's one way to hide drapery hardware. Valances are used with or without a curtain underneath, and can be draped, gathered or pleated. Woven Shade: Woven shades can be constructed of bamboo, jute, raffia or grasses
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