Most of us are familiar with the monochrome designs of toile dating from 1770 on. Printed on cream or white backgrounds, they used etched or carved copper plates and had spaced motifs with about 80cm repeats. But there are two more types as well. Polychrome, or multicoloured, mainly floral designs were influenced by the Indian printed cottons whose importation into France was banned by Louis XIV between 1686 and 1759. These were the earliest ones and were made using carved wood blocks which limited the design repeats to a maximum of 40cm. The third type evolved from 1797 due to the superiority of copper roller printing methods over earlier wood block and copper plate techniques. The designs were more compact with less space between the motifs and in the background they had simple repetitive designs – such as diamonds, stripes or clover leaves – with a design repeat of about 50cm.

The earlier and later types have been almost lost while those from the middle period survived in large quantities. They lasted so well because they were used primarily for furnishings and the like and so were stored in pristine condition in attics whereas the other types were mostly made into clothes, which wore out, became rags and were discarded.

Remaining popular today are the ones based on the monochrome patterns originally printed using copper plates. The designs still include such subjects as the four seasons and their accompanying activities, domestic life in the countryside, historical events, exotic blooms, birds, fruits, Roman gods and myths, ships and sailing adventures and other narratives. Colours printed on a white or cream background include blue – in dark and soft shades – red or cranberry, yellow, dark and light green, charcoal or black and less commonly even brown, purple and multicolours. There are also examples printed on yellow, red and blue backgrounds, but these may need to be ordered from overseas.

In 1987, Australia’s Bicentennial Toile was designed for Ashcroft Fabrics and printed on Australian cotton. Now housed in Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum, it features scenes from Australia’s history and measures 4m x 1.5m.

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