Idiot's guide to buying curtains

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I need to get some new curtains for DDs room. I have a vague memory of my mother instructing me that each curtain should be the same width as the window, is that right? The reason I'm wondering is that I need to do 2 windows, curtain poles are about 199cm and 190cm, most ready made curtains seem to be 165cm wide, would they look ok or do I need to get something made?

It depends on how much fullness and gathering you want.

So when you've pulled on the gathering threads at the top of the curtain, you want that measurement (of the gathered curtain) to be half the width of the pole. You need to allow a few extra cm for an overlap where the curtains meet to avoid a gap.

Also different heading tapes require different fullness e.g. Pinch pleat, pencil pleat etc.

A simple heading tape would be fine at 165, you just wouldn't have a huge amount of fullness. Eyelet top or tab top curtains are an option too.

I'm sure someone else will be able to explain better

Thanks, I'm guessing they would be pinch or pencil pleat, definitely not eyelet. They sent to come in either 165cm wide or 228 wide. May have to try and see how they look

It also depends how bulky the curtains will be when they're open as that can affect the amount of light in the room. So the 228 width will take up more room.

Some of those online curtain places, you can input your measurements and they'll tell you how wide the finished curtain will be. Might be an idea to try that and then you can decide which width to buy. Don't have any links as it's been a while since I looked.

If I had the choice of 165 or 228 for that size curtain pole on a simple heading , I'd probably go for the wider one and pull the gathers up a little more to fit. A bit of extra fullness in the curtain looks a whole lot better than not quite enough.

Our windows are either 180 or 240 wide. We go for 165 for the smaller ones and 228 for the wider ones. They look fine.