Viole Fabric Factories

What Voile Is

Voile takes its name from the French word for a veil, and the name is the description: a sheer, lightweight fabric you can see light and shadow through. It is woven in a plain weave from fine, high-twist yarns, and the twist is what separates voile from other sheers - the tightly twisted threads give the cloth a slightly crisp, springy hand and an even, open surface that does not slip and slide the way filament sheers do. Traditional voile is cotton; modern versions come in cotton-polyester blends and full polyester, which trade a little of cotton's softness for crease resistance and easy care.

Because the yarns are fine and the weave is open, voile breathes completely, which made it a classic summer fabric long before air conditioning: dresses, blouses, scarves, christening and children's wear, and layered skirts where two or three thicknesses build color without weight. The same openness makes it the world's standard curtain sheer, hanging at windows to soften daylight and give privacy without darkening a room - one fabric serving the wardrobe and the window with the same bolt of cloth.

Voile Among the Sheers

Shoppers meet several sheers side by side and the differences are real. Voile is cotton-based, plain woven and lightly crisp. Chiffon is finer, softer and more fluid, usually filament, and far more slippery to sew. Organza is stiff and wiry, holding sculpted shapes voile never could. Georgette is creped and pebbly rather than smooth. Lawn is opaque where voile is sheer, though the two share fine cotton yarns. Naming the right sheer matters because drape, care and sewing behavior all follow from the construction, and a pattern drafted for fluid chiffon will hang stiffly and sadly in voile.

One spelling note: this page's file name, title and listings use "viole", while the fabric the world buys and sells is usually spelled voile. A buyer searching mill catalogs should search under voile, and may also meet the cloth described as cotton voile, TC voile for the polyester-cotton blend, or simply as curtain sheer in interior ranges.

Working With and Caring for Voile

Voile sews more kindly than most sheers because its high-twist cotton yarns hold a seam, but it still wants sharp fine needles, short stitches, and seams that enclose its raw edges - French seams are the classic choice, since the open weave frays and a plain seam allowance shows through the cloth as a shadow line. Press with a moderate iron and a press cloth, cut with a rotary cutter or with the cloth laid over paper to stop it shifting, and expect hems to be narrow and rolled or finely turned to keep the fabric's lightness at its edges.

Cotton voile washes gently and softens with age, losing a little of its new crispness, which many wearers prefer. Polyester voile keeps its body, resists creasing and is the practical curtain choice where sheers are washed often or hang in strong sun. Either way, white voile yellows if stored in acid cardboard or bright light, so finished curtains and garments keep best folded in clean cotton or hung in a dark wardrobe, away from the window light the fabric itself is made to filter.

The Mills in This Directory

Three listings follow: Hands On of India, Shamala Textiles, for which no country is given, and Shanghai Best Linen Cotton Textile Factory of China. India and China are both historic homes of fine cotton weaving, and a linen-and-cotton factory listing voile among its goods fits the fabric's fine-flax-and-cotton neighborhood, although a buyer should confirm the exact fiber on offer, since voile is specified by content as much as by construction.

When sourcing voile, specify fiber content, yarn count, thread count, finished width and whether the cloth is piece-dyed, yarn-dyed or printed, and ask how the mill packs it - sheers crease in transit and a roll-packed shipment arrives in far better condition than folded bales. For curtain contracts, also agree the flame performance the destination market requires, since sheer window fabrics are regulated in many public buildings and a domestic-grade voile cannot be substituted into a contract specification.

Fabric Mills and Factories in This Directory

Each name below opens the company's profile in the Fabric Mills by Name directory, and each listing gives the company's country.