Lace curtains and valances

 

I’ve been doing more research into lace curtains and this week have been looking at valances. A valance is a short piece of fabric that hangs down above the top of a window curtain or from a canopy above a bed or from a shelf. Curtain valances became popular when pull-up curtains were introduced at the end of the 17th century to hide the pulleys and cords required to do the pulling up. Pelmets could also be used to hide the curtain tracks, but they were generally fairly rigid and were made of fabric, wood or metal. Lambrequins were also used for the same purpose and were also made of fabric. It seems to me that in general: pelmets were rigid and fixed to the wall; lambrequins were similar to valances but firmer and often had long extended sides and were shaped with scalloped edges and trimmed with fringes; while valances were softer and often made of draped or gathered material. However, as with all fashions, there was a lot of mixing and matching and none of the definitions are rigid. For example the image at the top of this post showing an 1895 curtain design includes a pelmet below a curtain rod, drapery and a valance, as well as three sets of curtain panels, in lace, silk and velvet.

This image shows a slightly earlier style from 1878 with a lambrequin covered in lace-like material and fringing over three pairs of curtains. These are made up of an inner pair of lace curtains reaching the sill of the window, a fine fabric or net curtain drawn to one side and a pair of heavier curtains tied back with tasselled cords.

This image from 1928 shows a simpler style but one that incorporates more lace. It comes from a catalogue produced by the Scranton lace company showing how different rooms in the home could be furnished using their products. This one is described as an ‘early American bedroom’ and shows the room decorated with lace curtains at the window, a lace tester and valance above the bed and a bedspread with a valance reaching down to the floor. It is interesting to note that by this time the term ‘valance’ also described fabric that hung down from the bed to screen the space underneath it, which shows how the definitions of these terms subtly change over time.