Stage Borders, Tabs and Legs - Wool Serge Stage Masking, Made-to-Measure in Australia by TSA
Borders. Legs and tabs. Masking, done right.
The drapes that hide your fly hardware and frame the stage picture. Wool serge workhorse, cut to your fly-bar spec, flame retarded to AS 1530 standards. Made in our Melbourne workshop, supplied Australia wide.
- Fire rated Flame retarded to AS 1530
- Non reflective Matte wool serge that soaks up stray light
- Any size, any stage Cut to your fly-bar width and drop
Spec your drape
before you call.
Answer five quick questions. The Drape Selector matches the fabric, fullness and opening style to your venue, then turns it into a PDF spec routed straight to our soft-goods team.
Spec drapes, hoists and venues with all our configuration tools →
The specifications, in one table.
| Wool serge | 550 gsm |
|---|---|
| Serge width | 1.8 m |
| Serge FR and colours | IFR; Black, Red, Blue, Grey |
| Turo molton | 320 gsm |
| Molton width | 3.0 m |
| Molton FR and colours | NDFR; Black, White |
| Blockout and lining | RevPro DFR 280 gsm, 1.5-3.0 m, black; Mechano NFR 175 gsm, 1.5 m |
| Care and shrink | Dry clean only; wool serge about 3% shrink risk if wet |
| Standard and certificate | AS 1530, treatment certificate for insurance and audit |
| Re-treat cycle | Turo molton: after moisture and every 2-3 years; serge: none |
| How they hang | Legs and borders: walkalong or fixed; travellers: corded or motorised; smothers: fixed |
Stock masking never fits.
Yours will.
Borders hung too short. Theatre tabs the wrong width for the system you have. Stage wings open to the audience line. Black drape turns grey under the house lights. Brickwork and backstage elements start to show through. Off-the-shelf masking will not solve any of it.
We measure, manufacture and install. Made-to-measure wool serge borders, side legs and theatre tabs, cut to your fly-bar spec, flame retarded to AS 1530 standards with the documentation supplied. Borders and legs are paired set-by-set so sightlines stay clean, masking remains consistent and the proscenium presents as intended. It is one part of the full Drapes & Accessories range.
Masking above. Skirts below.
Borders and legs hide what is overhead and in the wings. A skirt does the same for the space under the deck: legs, braces, cases and cables. Switch between a bare deck, a flat skirt and a knife pleat.
Four jobs, one black.
Proscenium
Full sets of borders and legs, paired to your fly-bar layout to keep the proscenium opening clean.
Wings & legs
Paired legs that mask offstage crew traffic and frame the picture clean to the proscenium line.
School halls
Made-to-measure masking for fixed grids and tight ceiling heights, cut to fit the hall you have.
Touring packs
Wool serge masking packs built to tour-ready spec, flame retarded to AS 1530 standards and packed flat for the next venue.
Different cloth,
different black.
Wool serge is the masking workhorse, but the right cloth depends on the job. Here is how the four masking fabrics compare, and how to spec the one your venue needs.
What do IFR / DFR / NDFR mean?
FR ratings, defined once: IFR is built into the fibre and is permanent. DFR is a durable treatment that survives wash cycles before retreatment. NDFR is a surface coat that degrades with moisture. We explain the ratings here, and fullness and pleating here.
The masking that vanishes.
Matte, dense and non-reflective - wool serge soaks up stray light instead of bouncing it back, so legs and borders read as true black from the seats. It is the workhorse for masking: borders, legs, tabs, blacks and travellers. IFR by nature, so the rating never lapses. Heavier than molton, and dry-clean only.
- Weight
- ~550 gsm
- Roll
- 1.8 m
When the stage drapes are the feature.
The front-of-house cloth: deep nap, full colour and the weight to hang in clean folds. Where wool serge is built to disappear, velour is built to be looked at - spec it for feature stage drapes, valances and house-side reveals, not for everyday masking. Inherent grades hold their FR for the life of the fibre; some velours are treated, so we confirm the rating on the colour you pick.
- Weight
- ~450 gsm
- Roll
- 1.2-1.5 m
The budget black, three metres wide.
Brushed cotton on a 3.0m roll - the wide width cuts seam count on tall drops and keeps the cost down on studio, temporary and touring masking. Lighter and lower-cost than wool serge; the trade-off is the FR. It is a surface treatment, so it degrades with moisture and needs a retreat after any wet exposure.
- Weight
- ~320 gsm
- Roll
- 3.0 m
Full blackout, low weight.
Stops light without the bulk - a DFR-treated cloth that kills bleed behind a thinner face fabric, or stands alone as a blackout layer. Choose it over a heavier serge when you need total opacity but not the weight on the bar: tech blackout zones, masking layers and linings. Durably treated, so it survives cleaning cycles before retreatment.
- Weight
- ~280 gsm
- Roll
- 1.5-3.0 m
These four cover the masking work. House curtains, cycloramas, scrims and printed backdrops each call for a different cloth - tell the Drape Selector the job and it specs the right fabric, or browse the full soft-goods range.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical.
Every drape, banquette and piece of soft scenery, cut and sewn in-house through 18 months of lockdowns.
Read the case study →Our soft goods,
on real stages.
Cut, sewn and FR-treated in our Melbourne workshop, the home of Reveal Drapes for over twenty years. Same team, same craft, now backed by the scale of TSA.
See all projects
Moulin Rouge! The Musical: a workshop that didn't stop.
Every drape, banquette and piece of soft scenery manufactured in-house through 18 months of lockdowns.
Read the project
Cairns Convention Centre: 36 hoists, one ceiling, every brief accepted.
A 36-axis hoist array and five-chord box truss, the turnkey overhead rigging behind the Great Hall.
Read the project
Australian Outback Spectacular: 4,000 shows. Five flying rigs. Zero missed cues.
Seven-plus years servicing five performer flying rigs and the full stage automation system.
Read the projectThree PDFs, sent to your inbox.
Borders and tabs, masking the stage.
Borders, legs and tabs in the workshop and on stage.
Questions
about borders & tabs.
If your question isn't here, call us or send a brief - we'll come back to you with the right answer for your venue.
Call 1300 439 872 →Tell us your masking
specification.
Build it in the Drape Selector, or send your fly-bar spec. We'll match the fabric, custom-make the borders, legs and tabs, and supply the AS 1530 paperwork with them.
- We talk. The stage, the fly-bar layout and the sightlines.
- We measure. Borders and legs paired set by set.
- We make. Cut to your bar spec, with the AS 1530 paperwork.