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The web's premier range of Net Curtains
Choose from hundreds of Nets, Voiles, Cafe curtains, lace net, and embroidered net curtains all at the web's lowest prices.
Please note that, due to the non-rigid construction of Net Curtains, the drop is approximate and may be slightly long or short.
Also, we recommend that all Voile Nets have their sides hemmed to avoid fraying.
Please make sure you have ordered the correct sizes as we cannot accept returns or refund net curtains.
Facts about Net Curtains
Definition - Net Curtain, a curtain made of net, usually fixed permanently across windows to ensure privacy; hence net-curtained. [OED]
History
Net curtains have been widely used since the 18th Century as a way of allowing light through a window whilst maintaining privacy for the room's occupants. It is believed that Net Curtains first developed in England and were originally made from lace woven from wool, silk or cotton - silk lace being the finer and more expensive variety. Since the advent of man-made fabrics in the 20th Century net curtains have been increasingly, and today almost exclusively, made from polyester. Other forms of lace or net curtain, for instance surrounding beds, or in doorways, have been in use throughout the world possibly since weaving techniques were invented, to protect privacy but also as decoration and to keep insects out. However these may be distinguished from Net Curtains as we generally know them by the fact that they are not used to shade windows.
Types of Net Curtains
Net Curtains are classified according to their uses, sizes and shapes. Some common varieties inlcude:
Voile - voile is a thin, semi-transparent woven material originally used in dressmaking and made from wool. Voile nets can be embroidered, but are essentially always based on a plain, evenly woven fabric.
Cafe curtains - cafe curtains are a specific form of net curtain often used purely for decoration but also to filter sunlight at the top of a window, whilst allowing an open view through the window below. Usually no more than 12-16 inches high, they are, as the name suggests, often found in cafes, where they give customers an outside view when sat at tables set next to windows. Cafe curtains can be made from any net material.
Jardiniere - this is a shaped, full-length net curtain, frequently arched in the centre to allow a view outside but with more window coverage than a Cafe net curtain.
Manufacture
Historically, Nottingham in England was the centre of the Net Curtain manufacturing industry for much of the 19th and 20th centuries. English manufacture has all but died out and now Turkey, Eastern Europe and China are the main producers.
