Have You “Toilled” Lately?

And by that, we do not mean have you “labored” lately, as depicted in this wonderful piece of fabric, but have you used toile fabric to decorate lately?

The word “toile” entered the  English language in the 1100’s and meant, purely and simply, “linen cloth”.  The printed fabric that we now think of when hearing the word “toile” was originally produced in Ireland  in or around the 1750’s and the people of Britain and France began producing and enjoying it soon thereafter.   The French called this printed fabric “Toile de Jouy” (the full name for what we call “toile”) which literally means “cloth from Jouy-en-Josas, the name of a town in north-central France.

Now, many, many years after,  there are three meanings to the word “toile”.  The first is the fabric itself.  Toile means “linen cloth” or “canvas’.  The second meaning of the word “toile” (in England and Australia) is a sample garment made to test a pattern.  These patterns are commonly called “muslins” in the United States.  And the third meaning is what most of us think of when we hear the word “toile” and that is a fabric that has a white or an off-white background with a pattern repeating a scene that tells a story – perhaps a pastoral scene with a little boy playing a flute and a lady carrying a pitcher of water,  people sitting by a lake, or several different arrangements of flowers.  The pattern portion consists, most often, of a single color such as this in black:

or this in red:

or this in blue:

There are so, so many toiles produced now.  Some have more than two colors and sway from the white or off-white background, such as this one:

They are so traditional and so classical…. so peaceful and at the same time, so elegant.  Toile was very much in vogue in the colonial era in the United States and is associated with historical towns such as Colonial Williamsburg, and has been used and enjoyed right down through the years.

For the most part, toile is associated with fabrics and is used for draperies, bed linens, upholstery, etc. but it can also be found on wallpapers, giving you a totally toile room,

or teapots, aprons and even wellies (short for Wellington boots, the English term for rain boots):

Here a toile, there a toile, everywhere a toile, toile!  Oh, what abundant living!