For the love of God please help me with my curtains!

[QueenOfIce]

Moved house wanted some lovely curtains, chose some Clarke & Clarke material. Wanted 3 pairs and 1 single. Have had 2 quotes both in the region of 3-3.5k.

There is no way I am paying three thousand sodding pounds on curtains. I've looked in all the obvious places, John Lewis, Laura Ashley etc but can't find anything we like.

I've found the original fabric so could buy that and have the curtains made except my measuring abilities are shocking!

Do I just measure from top of the pole to where I want the curtains to end and the the width of the pole without finials?

I am shocked at how utterly crap I am at this!

You do, although you then make plain to the maker that this is actual window measurement. Curtains are usually made 1.5 or 2 x the width of the window. Also, I'd add an inch or two for comfort, and ask for a deep hem in case you move.

You also need to think about pattern matching - both if legnth of fabric need to be joined to give the correct width and across each pair when closed depending on the pattern. There's bound to be an online fabric calculator somewhere.

Try Sew Simple for tutorials.

It depends on what heading you want.

Get quotes to have the curtains made up, as you need to think of the pattern repeat, what heading you're going to have, the lining of the curtains.

For example you're pole might be 1.5 metre wide, so you might need 5m of fabric to make the curtains for that window.

We want a double pleat but with the heading slightly higher so the pole isn't seen. No pattern only plain material.

The other issue is the with one window there is only 11cm between the ceiling and the window. I see you're meant to have at least 15cm. Would a thinner pole say 19mm be ok in this case rather than the usual 35mm?

Do you need the curtains right away? Our local curtain shop tends to have a massive sale (like 40% of fabric and make-up) after Christmas if you can bear to wait? (Because if you’re genuinely a novice, this sounds like a large and potentially expensive project to experiment with 😊)

I typed in local curtain maker & found someone who makes curtains she came & measured up & gave a quote she was way more cheaper than the local curtain/fabric shops, might be worth a try or posting on your local neighbourhood forum asking for recommendations.

eBay is my new friend for curtains as lots of good quality prelovec made to measure. curtains on offer - some of them new. If you search for "pinch pleat" or "interlined" that sorts out a lot of the dross.

There are curtain makers on there as well.

Also curtainfactoryoutlet and similar websites have good deals on fabric including Clarke and Clarke if you can find a reasonable price for making up.

I've a lot of windows and an old house in the process of being slowly redone so needed curtains mainly for the thermal quality so started looking on eBay and couldn't believe how good the quality is in the £150 to £350 range.

Thanks @Focalpoint we still don't have curtains but we have got as far as putting up poles! I just can't justify £580 on a pair of curtains! I'll look at eBay now.

try the online made to measure companies, 247 curtains is excellent, cheap, has an online calculator so you can get a quote. also sends out free samples. massive range so I'm sure you'd find something similar