Designers talk ecstatically of its drapability, of the way it follows the line of the body.

"The reason is the drapability," Miss Gelson said.

Apart from the visual appearance of curtain fabric, and suitability for its purpose, the other important characteristic to consider is its drapability.

Made of opaque but lightweight crinkled India cotton printed in a leopard pattern, it has "body" but also drapability.

Some noted disadvantages include poor drapability and crease resistance, brittleness, fiber shedding, and yellowing in sunlight.

Hand, or handle, is an all-purpose term for the characteristics perceived by the sense of touch when a fabric is held in the fingers, such as drapability, smoothness, flexibility.

This property facilitates garments and garment details that require extra elasticity, drapability or flexibility, such as bias-cut skirts and dresses, neckties, piping trims and decorations, bound seams, etc.