Tapestry Throw "POLYOMINOES" col. Terra & Firma (multiple sizes JHANE BARNES Custom

Jhane's Take on the Woven Jacquard Tapestry Throws

(and why I’m still thinking about them)

We’ve had a few returns on the tapestry throws, mostly because they didn’t work with a customer’s interior. That’s understandable — these aren’t neutral background objects. They’re very much designed textiles.

What I want to explain, though, is the weaving technique, because that’s really where everything starts.

Tapestry weaving is an interior furniture weaving technique. It’s typically woven very tightly, which is how you get the crisp structure you see in tapestry upholstery, pillows and totes (including the ones on our site). For these throws, the mill made a deliberate choice to loosen the construction to see if they could create something with enough drape to work as a throw.

It does work — but not without trade-offs.

Because of the construction, the designs can look “thread-y,” especially up close. Even the mill says the patterns look best when viewed from a bit of distance, which is how tapestry was traditionally intended to be seen. This isn’t a printing issue — it’s simply the nature of woven imagery at this scale and density.

And then there’s real life.

If you have dogs (and I have three), these will snag. They’re 100% cotton and not fragile, but they’re also not indestructible. They behave like woven interior textiles, not blankets.

All of that said, these throws are made in North Carolina, in a region with a deep history of interior textile weaving. Supporting an American mill still matters to me, especially when so much of the industry has disappeared.

So here’s where I’m being completely honest: I’m still deciding.

I like these throws. I respect the process, the history, and the people who make them. But I also care deeply about how things are actually used and lived with — and whether an object makes sense in most homes, not just ideal ones.

This is one of those cases where the decision isn’t about quality alone. It’s about expectation, and whether the story and the reality align closely enough.

And I haven’t finished thinking about that yet.