Fine vertical striations create subtle tonal movement through the deeper bands of Collins Stripe, keeping the stripe from sitting flat or still. Sourced from plain striped silk set into the pleated skirt of an 1857–60 American evening dress at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the design isolates one section of that textile as an 8-inch repeat — bringing the movement and fine grain of the original silk to fabric and wallpaper.
Soft dusty blue and ivory, an inch of each. The blue is greyed rather than clear, and fine striations run vertically through each blue band, keeping it from reading as a flat fill. The ivory sits flat. The stripe holds across a room without turning hard. A blue and cream bengal stripe.
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The Source
Sometime between 1857 and 1860, Mrs. James Bonner Collins wore a silk evening dress to a White House reception for President James Buchanan.
Set into the pleats of its enormous skirt were lengths of plain striped silk. The Metropolitan Museum of Art singles them out in its record of the dress, noting that the vertical stripes helped lift and elongate the silhouette.
They were not the showiest part of the gown. They are the reason this pattern exists.
Up close, the stripe is alive — blue shifting through fine vertical striations, bordered by narrow bands of cream and deeper color. One section of that striped silk is drawn here.
Collins Stripe began as the quiet part of a dress worn to the White House.
The Specifications
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Source: Evening dress, 1857–60, American. Silk. Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession 2009.300.953a, b, The Costume Institute. Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Beatrice Collins, 1973
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Repeat: 8 in
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References: The Metropolitan Museum of Art object record 2009.300.953a, b
The Cloth
Decor Chenille. A short, dense pile with a velvet-like surface on a firm woven ground. Fine striations catch the light as it moves across the room, deepening the colour. Substantial weight keeps a clean line on upholstery and gives tailored drapery a decisive fall.
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Composition: 100% polyester
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Width: 56 in printable (57 in full)
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Weight: 400 gsm
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For: Upholstery, cushions, headboards, heavy drapery
Cotton Linen. A fine, even linen-cotton weave. Colour prints cleanly while the woven surface remains visible, keeping solid grounds from going flat without softening fine linework. Light in the hand, it falls in narrow, supple folds and filters light rather than blocking it.
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Composition: 55% linen, 45% cotton
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Width: 54 in printable
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Weight: 250 gsm
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For: Upholstery, curtains, table linens, pillows
The Fabric
Decor Chenille
A short, dense pile with a velvet-like surface on a firm woven ground. Fine striations catch the light as it moves across the room, deepening the colour. Substantial weight keeps a clean line on upholstery and gives tailored drapery a decisive fall.
-
Composition: 100% polyester
-
Width: 56 in printable (57 in full)
-
Weight: 400 gsm
-
For: Upholstery, cushions, headboards, heavy drapery
Cotton Linen
A fine, even linen-cotton weave. Colour prints cleanly while the woven surface remains visible, keeping solid grounds from going flat without softening fine linework. Light in the hand, it falls in narrow, supple folds and filters light rather than blocking it.
-
Composition: 55% linen, 45% cotton
-
Width: 54 in printable
-
Weight: 250 gsm
-
For: Upholstery, curtains, table linens, pillows
