Curtains - very curved bay window - help!

[RoSEbuds6]

Hi there, we have a very curved bay window made from 5 smaller windows, underneath is a large curved radiator. At the moment we have horrible grey venetian blinds which do the job, but I find depressing.
It seems that I have either the option of spending a lot on bespoke curtain pole and then having access to eyelet curtains, or using a cheaper flexible curtain track and then having less curtains available to buy. Is there another option?
We have an airbrick under the window with causes a draught so I'd like some thermal lined curtains.
Where can you buy a good selection of curtains? I have looked at JohnLewis, Next, M&S and Dunelm but because DH quite likes the blinds, I don't have a limitless budget to get some made.
Any suggestions, thoughts, pictures, links or cunning plans?
Thanks in advance

I'd buy a cheap plastic rail.

Dunelm sell thermal lining. So you can choose the curtains you like and then line them.

We have a flexible rail. I was the easiest option really.

We had a cheap plastic bendy track from Argos then got two sets of long grey curtains from IKEA (£40 per set) and hung them on the track.

We had to do the flexible rail thing for our bay windows. It does dramatically cut down the curtains you can buy because most are eyelet nowadays. We managed to find nice ones at Next, and Dunelm have a pretty good selection too.

Thank you @Bedtimebear40 - that's the way I'm leaning too.

I guess it's also possible to buy eyelet curtains, chop off the rings and add tape to convert them into pencil pleat? That would all add to the cost though I guess?

Thanks everyone else too! I had forgotten about IKEA for curtains actually - good idea.
I did find a youtube video where someone had pinned their curtains to the venetian blind rail, but it didn't look that great to be honest!

The IKEA ones have options too - the little track clips can be added, a pole can be slid through, and eye hoops can also be added so they are versatile.

That's exactly what I did for our bay window curtains, OP. I bought a set of ready made curtains with eyelets, then chopped the top off and sewed on the tape. I have a sewing machine so it was easy to do myself.

We have a curved bay window with 5 window panels.
We put a pole straight across above so the curtains just go straight across.

I bought copper pipe and bent it to fit

You can get extendable metal bendy curtain poles for bay windows from Amazon for either eyelet or hook curtains. Saw one for hook curtains at around £35

Aaargh, I feel your pain. We need much heavier curtains because the front room is freezing, but the curtain track has to go on the ceiling as there is no room between the top of the windows to fit a rail. We are now going for a ceiling fitted track just going straight across the bay, and even that is a stupid amount of money.sigh

Terry's Fabrics have a selection of pole sets to fit a five sided bay. Priced at around £80.

But eyelet curtains will never work on a bay pole, no matter how bespoke, as they would never be able to pass of the brackets needed at the corners.

Have you thought about shutters rather than curtains? That’s my plan.

pass over is what I mean!

Get thermal lined Roman blinds?

Just coming on to agree with rosegold.
You will not be able to use eyelet curtains on a pole.
Instead of a white plastic track I would upgrade slightly to a white metal track, much more durable.
Any alteration hand would be able to convert eyelet curtains. Just make sure you buy them long ent

@Tangledtresses

Get thermal lined Roman blinds?

This is a very good idea, I got thermally lined roman blinds for the hallway (we have 3 large windows up the stair) and they have made a temendous difference to how warm the hallway is. With a bay it might be hard to get them fitting perfectly though, you'd have to get MTM which obviously costs quite a bit more than OTS.

Well yes @terry I did think of that, but the pole I saw had a bracket at each end and then one in the middle.

I prefer curtains to blinds really but thanks for the suggestions

I am going to go for the bendy track and will alter eyelet curtains to fit I think. I could do @EmmaGrundyForPM suggested, but it would wipe out quite a lot of my living room!

Thanks everyone for replying, you have been wonderfully helpful :)

pole with 3 brackets

I have made a massive pair of lined curtains (3 and a half widths each one) for my son and daughter-in-law. They have a hockey stick bay window.

I am going to order the Fineline curtain track from Terry's Curtains; it is aluminium, claims to cope with heavyweight curtains, is bendable both concave and convex and has very positive reviews.

@RoSEbuds6

pole with 3 brackets

That looks gorgeous - but very £££!

In the notes, though, it says, 'Passing brackets cannot be used with eyelet curtains.' But I can see that if your window is suitable for that smooth curved design you may not need extra brackets.

Yes - really expensive @rosegoldwatcher which is why I posted. Can you post what you think of the Terry's track when you use it? (if you remember obvioulsy) It sounds ideal!

Maybe we should pay @bringingonbackthegoodtimes to make us some copper ones - a great idea by the way.

Can you post what you think of the Terry's track when you use it? (if you remember obviously) It sounds ideal!

@RoSEbuds6 - will do.

Ordering it today, once DH has approved it. (DiL and DS have OKed it but DH will be fitting the track as the youngsters are lacking in practical skills!)

We have this Terry's track in our two big 5-sided bays. We have the 5 metre one. We've bent it so it follows the lines of the bay quite well.

We have very high ceilings too and I wanted floor length curtains so we have pairs of IKEA curtains downstairs and 2 pairs of 278cm long curtains from Loom and Last in the bedroom.