How to Style Toile Bedding
Toile bedding is one of the easiest ways to bring a little French romance into your bedroom. A single toile duvet cover can carry the whole room, and it plays beautifully with white sheets, soft ruffles and silk velvet. Here is how we style toile at Linen Salvage et Cie, plus a look at our three toile collections in blue, pink and more.
What is toile?
Toile de Jouy is a French print style that traditionally depicts a romantic, pastoral scene in a single color. The word toile literally means cloth in French, and over time it has come to mean the design itself. Toile became popular as a printed French fabric in the late eighteenth century, and it has never really gone out of style. Traditionally it was printed in one color, such as black, blue or red, on a white ground. Softer colors like pink and blue came later.
Our toiles start from old French toile wallpapers and documents, and we design and print them ourselves in small batches on 100% cotton poplin. Our French Toile bedding became our number one bed online.
Our three toile bedding collections
French Toile
Our French Toile Print Collection is our best selling vintage French toile floral print, in a range of the prettiest colors, including Soft Rose, Chambray, Lilac, Sage, Soft Grey and Natural. You can choose a simple hem finish or a more dramatic tatter ruffle on each piece to customize your look. We print the fabric, then wash it so it is pre-shrunk, soft and ready for your bed.
Victoria Toile
The Victoria Toile Print Collection has a wallpaper stripe design that was hand-drawn exclusively for us. It comes in French Blue, Ballet Pink and Maple, and it is a pretty, practical update for a romantic bedroom.
Love Toile
The Love Toile Print Collection features a hand-drawn sketch inspired by antique French toile wallpaper. It comes in Petal Pink and Ecru, with a matching toile pillow showing a simple lovers' scene. Like French Toile, you can choose a tatter ruffle or simple hem.
How to style toile bedding
1. Start with white sheets
Every one of our toile collections is designed to look beautiful layered over our white sheets. A white base lets the print breathe and keeps the bed feeling light and airy, which is the casual California spin we like to put on traditional prints. Try our Softly Washed 100% Cotton Poplin Sheet Set for a simple base, or a ruffled sheet set if you want more romance.
2. Pick your finish: simple hem or tatter ruffle
On French Toile and Love Toile, you choose the finish. A simple hem feels tailored and modern. A tatter ruffle feels softer and more romantic. If you love ruffles but want the print to stay the star, keep the duvet simple and add ruffles through your pillowcases and bedskirt.
3. Pair toile with solid ruffle pieces
Our favorite toile beds mix one print with solid ruffle pieces. A few combinations we love:
- A French Toile duvet with Clementine Tatter Ruffle Pillowcases in White or Creme for a soft, oversized ruffle at the pillows.
- Any toile duvet finished with a cotton bedskirt. Our French Toile collection notes say it best: finish the look with a soft cotton bedskirt. The Clementine Tatter Ruffle Poplin Bedskirt or the Estelle Double Ruffle Voile Bedskirt both frame the bed in a waterfall of ruffles.
- Victoria Toile in Ballet Pink with white ruffled sheets for a sweet, vintage bedroom.
4. Add texture with silk velvet or linen
Our French Toile and Love Toile prints are designed to work back to our linen collections and our silk velvets. A velvet throw at the foot of a toile bed or a velvet pillow in front of the shams adds a rich texture against crisp cotton poplin. Look at the Silk Velvet Throws and Velvet Pillows for a shade that picks up a color in your print.
5. Mix prints, gently
We love mixing prints, but softly. Pair a toile with a small-scale floral in a related color, like a print pillowcase in front of your toile shams. Our Vintage Floral Tatter Ruffle Pillowcases come in French Toile, Victoria and Auberge prints, so you can mix and match and collect them.
Blue toile bedding or pink toile bedding?
Both are favorites. Blue toile bedding adds soft traditional style in a modern way, and it is perfect for guest bedrooms and kids' rooms. Try French Toile in Chambray or Victoria Toile in French Blue. Pink toile bedding is very pretty on a white bed or with ruffled sheets. Try French Toile in Soft Rose, Victoria Toile in Ballet Pink or Love Toile in Petal Pink.
If you cannot choose, look at the rest of the room. Both colors sit happily on white sheets, so you can start with either and add from there.
Building a French toile bedding set
Our print duvet covers and coordinating shams are sold separately in sizes Twin through King, so you can build your own French toile bedding set. A simple formula:
- A toile duvet cover in your size.
- Two matching toile shams (standard or king).
- White sheets, plain or ruffled.
- Two solid ruffle pillowcases.
- A cotton bedskirt.
- A silk velvet throw or pillow for texture.
Because we print in small batches, order all of your toile pieces at the same time so the colors match. Check our Size Guide for exact measurements.
Caring for toile bedding
Our toiles are printed on cotton poplin, so they follow our cotton care: machine wash in cool water with gentle liquid soap, no bleach, then lay flat to dry or tumble dry on a cold or warm setting. Iron if desired.