"Toile has long, colorful history"

If it could be done, a friend of mine would have every room in her house wallpapered in it and every chair, sofa, bedspread, curtain, etc. covered in the fabric. Her passion for toile, a printed fabric, began years ago when she received as a gift a printed tablecloth and matching napkins. Her quest for toile fabrics has been unabated every since.

“To toile or not to toile?” is her question whenever she considers a decorating or redecorating project. Of course, the toile pattern wins. Her husband, God bless him, resolutely refuses to wear neckties in toile. While several of these ties may be found on his closet door, they are there for decoration, he assures me, not for wearing.

Toile is a printed fabric with detailed figural and/or scenic designs stamped upon it. Often the fabric is monochromatic---primarily blue printed on white or cream cloth. The word is French, short for “toile de Jouy” (pronounced “twahl de zhwee”). “Toile” means “cloth” and “Jouy” refers to Jouy-en-Josas, a village near Versailles, where most of the French toiles were produced.

According to a new book at the library entitled “Toile, the Storied Fabrics of Europe and America” by Michele Palmer, this printing style began not in France, but in Ireland. In 1752, a Dublin printer invented the process of machine printing fabric from engraved copper plates. Before that time, designs on fabric were either woven or hand printed from carved wooden blocks. The copperplate printing allows for more delicate lines and larger repeat areas.

The copperplate-printed fabrics, or toiles, became an instant status symbol among the merchant and upper classes in England. Dozens of English textile manufacturers began producing hundreds of toile designs. Flora and fauna, with special emphasis on birds, were among the earliest subjects, but scenes of people quickly became the most popular designs. The city-bound Londoners especially liked the printed pastoral scenes of idyllic country life with frolicking peasants.

Benjamin Franklin may have been the first American to buy toile. In 1758, while in London as a representative of the Pennsylvania Assembly, he wrote to his wife about his recent purchase: “There is also 56 Yards of Cotton, printed curiously from Copper Plates, a new Invention, to make Bed and Window Curtains…” Franklin also bought a toile in a different color and print for the bedroom chairs. An English lady chides him by saying, “…I did wrong not to buy both of the same Colour.” That woman, his English landlady, understood the importance of decorating a room in the same colors of toile print.

According to the author, the English tried to keep the copperplate printing on English soil by prohibiting the skilled textile workers from leaving the country. In France, the cotton textile manufacturers learned the copperplate printing process on their own. A textile factory was built in Jouy-en-Josas. The location of this factory—near Versailles, where the royal trendsetters held court—was particularly important. Soon, the pastoral designs printed on cotton fabric became the favorite of the French court and Marie Antoinette who was fond of toile prints for her rustic costumes.

My friend who loves to decorate in toile is in good company as the White House and other houses of state have a fair share of their rooms with wallpaper, curtains, and upholstery fabrics of toile. For myself, I think that my wife and I shall stay clear of toile as once it’s in your house, it seems to multiply.

Recent donations to the Columbus Library Foundation include those in memory of Lucille M. Luschen given by Claire L. McGuire, Ruby M. Behlen and Mr. and Mrs. James McBride. Katherine Byrnes was remembered by a donation from Mr. and Mrs. Robert Mead. Mr. and Mrs. Carroll Channer presented a memorial in honor of Art Kurtenbach.