Curtains look too full & messy

by Carol Davis
(Morecambe)

I have lined curtains made up for my lounge. Which I am trying to hang on a corded curtain pole.

When the curtains are up they look too full and although I have tried to fold the curtains there seems to be too much material to do this successfully. They just look a mess.

Have I not enough hooks on the pole or too many, or perhaps I need a different type of rail altogether?



Hi Carole

When making curtains with a pencil pleat header. The rule of thumb is for your curtain to have twice the width of your curtain track or rod.

This means that each curtain before you gather the header tape should be roughly the same width as your track or rod.

If you have a lot more than this you will find it hard to stack them back off the window.

Also if your curtain width is substantially less then your curtains will look skimpy when closed together.

You curtain hardware will almost certainly not the problem. So long as you have enough hooks in your curtain header. Again my advice is a hook around every 4 to 6 pockets. This depends on the weight of your curtains.

Finally You are right to fold your curtains into pleats. Usually around the depth of your hand. A good idea is then to loosely tie bands around your curtains top, middle and bottom. Then leave them like this for about a week this will train your new curtains into their pleats. This will cause them to fall into their pleats naturally when opening and closing.

I Hope this helps somewhat, if not drop me another question.


Best regards


Lee