Toile 2744994 222109629 2008-06-27T16:33:42Z Theebbandflow 7382628 Added photo of toile fabric {{Wiktionarypar|toile}} [[Image:Toile_de_jouy.jpg|thumb|200px|right|A photo of toile de jouy fabric on a french reproduction style chair.]] '''Toile''' is a word that entered the [[English language]] around the [[16th century]]<ref name="OEDtoile">'''Oxford English Dictionary'''. '''Toile''', earliest citation from 1561. Also spelled '''toyl''' / '''toyle'''.</ref> from a [[French language|French]] word meaning "cloth" or "web" — particularly cloth or canvas for painting on. The word toile in modern English has multiple meanings. ==Test garment== A '''toile''' is a version of a garment made by fashion designers to test a [[pattern (sewing)|pattern]]. They are usually made in cheap material, as multiple toiles may be made in the process of perfecting a design. Toiles may be called "muslins" in the United States. ==Toile de Jouy== '''Toile de Jouy''', sometimes abbreviated to simply "toile", is a type of decorating pattern consisting of a usually white or off-white background on which a repeated pattern depicting a fairly complex scene, generally of a pastoral theme such as (for example) a couple having a picnic by a lake. Toiles also often consists of an arrangement of flowers. The pattern portion consists of a single colour, most often black, dark red, or blue. Greens, browns and magenta toile patterns are less common but not unheard of. Toile is most associated with fabrics (curtains and upholstery in particular), though toile wallpaper is also popular. Toile de Jouy originated in [[France]] in the late 1700s. In the [[French language]], the phrase literally means "cloth from [[Jouy-en-Josas]]", a town of north-central France. Although it has been continuously produced since then, it experienced a marked upsurge in popularity around the year [[2000]]. Previously only a decorating design, designers have been recently experimenting with toile-patterned apparel as well. ==Etymology== [[Middle English]] toile, from [[French language|French]] ''toile'' ("cloth"), from [[Old French]] ''teile'', from [[Latin]] ''tela'', ("web"), from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] ''*(s)teg'' ("to cover") (see [[list of Proto-Indo-European roots]]). ==References== {{Reflist}} {{fabric}} [[Category:Interior design]] [[Category:Fabrics]] [[Category:Fashion design]] [[Category:Textile patterns]] [[fr:Toile]]