By Harriet Goode

By Harriet Goode

Print fabrics can give more “newness* to a room than any other element in redecorating, says Miss Katherine L. Habel, home furnishings specialist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. They are the cheapest way to transform a room, improve architectural short comings, and disguise awkward furniture lines, she adds. Patterned fabrics are the magic that blends all color in a room into a harmonious whole. Study prints to learn their limitations and possibilities for maximum benefits. Here are a few simple rules to follow, characteristics to look for, pitfalls and disappointments to avoid: ' It you are shopping for a print for furniture, ask yourself, “will the principle motif centered on backs and seats, show patterns to advantage. . as the artist Intended it?* If shopping for drapery print note whether the pattern is symmetrical and balanced, whether the right, and left selvages mesh together to give a nice match in case you use widths in draperies. Watch out — don’t be tripped by the repeat! Repeat is the distance b etween matching motifs. It can vary from afew Inches in a small, over-all pattern to six feet or more. This factor determines how a pattern will center on furniture and whether it will entail unavoidable waste in cutting draperies. Naturally, the smaller the repeat, the less the waste. In draperies using more than one width of material repeat is all important and can be costly. Limitations of various types of prints should be considered Many prints catch the eye and seem desirable, and none is more appealing than some with human or animal figures. Be sure you first plan how to use these, for it is disconcerting to have to chop off a horse's head or to dismember the human form. Pastoral scences present this problem, as do many of the high-style animal prints, old Chinese drawings, and decorative Spanish documents, i Stripes are for funl But they ■need precise tailoring, because shoddy matching or mis. matching of stripes show up plainly. Miters add a professional touch, and stripes afford Infinite variety in arrange, ments, squares - wlthlnsquares, chevrons, etc. Plaids appear as an overall pattern until you try to cut a slip cover, tnen you find they have repeats, too, and are likely to be printed with unmatched selvages. They can be real headaches, says Miss Habel, unless you plot their cutting and fitting. Don’t buy on lmpluse. Plan just how material is to be used before buying. Material once cut is usually not returnable. Most stores charge 10-25 percent of the total cost to take back yardage. For greatest economy, use small all-over patterns which have such a small repeat it doesn't matter. These can be most attractive. Don’t be beguiled by extreme patterns, urv. less you can afford to make frequent changes. Better stick