How do you hang up curtains that don't have rings built-in to allow them to be attached to a pole?

[RinglessCurtains]

My DD recently bought a set of curtains from Dunelm. When she got them home and opened them up, she noticed that the curtains didn't have any rings (eyelets) in them allowing them to be hung up on a pole. She subsequently decided to return them to the store on the basis that they aren't fit for the purpose they were purchased for - to be hung up on a pole, like every other set of curtains I have seen in my several decades of life. There was no way to know that these were ringless curtains based on the packaging. She said she just assumed they would have the rings, as every other set of curtains she has seen in people's houses (or owned herself) has had them. There was also no gap in the top of the curtains to allow a pole to slide through them.

The thought has since occurred to me - how are you supposed to hang them up if they don't have rings or a gap in for the pole to go through? Do you stick them on to the pole with velcro? Clothes pegs? Superglue? None of those suggestions seems appealing to me, and the pegs in particular would look ridiculous I imagine.

I’m assuming they also didn’t have the attachment fabric for curtain hooks. If so, sounds like a manufacturing error.

Really????????🤔

You use curtain hooks which attach to rings on the pole.

Presumably there was curtain header tape at the top. You put curtain hooks through it and then attach to the curtain rings on the pole.

Curtain hooks. There be a header tape.

Curtain hooks which go on the pole, and the curtain hangs from the curtain tape.

https://www.dunelm.com/info/buying-guides/how-to-hang-curtains

This is making my brain hurt, you seem to be saying that the curtain she bought was in fact just a hemmed square/rectangle of fabric? Is that right. Or did it have the tape with the stitching running through it - but it can't have as you would have said that. All curtains are not hung on a pole, they are on tracks.

If they are pencil pleat (i.e. no tape) then you use metal hooks which have a pointed end and go through the material.

All our curtains are Dunelm M2M and made with pencil pleats (IMO they look neater) and use metal hooks.

Well you’d normally use a curtain rail rather than a pole with non eyelet curtains but there is a way round it. No idea how it looks.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Curtain-Drapery-Curtains-Internal-Diameter/dp/B091TGN8K9/ref=asc_df_B091TGN8K9?mcid=2954e8a2cc1c3b5d8f1ff63f45270438&hvocijid=4376754474111730606-B091TGN8K9-&hvexpln=74&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4376754474111730606&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9209800&hvtargid=pla-2281435177338&psc=1&gad_source=1

Oh dear.

Curtain hooks on to the tape and then rings with attachments on pole. https://www.amazon.es/Anillos-Resistente-Herrumbre-Di%C3%A1metro-Cortinas/dp/B07RSY5B4B/ref=asc_df_B07RSY5B4B?mcid=f6ac29c02bbb32e5b011616a3a798663&tag=googshopes-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=699711861318&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=375349572125663971&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9198266&hvtargid=pla-757121647811&psc=1&hvocijid=375349572125663971-B07RSY5B4B-&hvexpln=0

You buy a pack of rings and hooks designed for this job, the rings go on the pole and have little rings on the bottom. You insert the hooks into the header tape and then the hooks into the little rings. This lets you hang curtains designed for curtain rails on poles. If you are buying curtains that you want to hang on a pole without rings you need to make sure you buy curtains with eyelets. The drop down menu on the Curtains section of the Dunelm website has Eyelet Curtains as an option that you can filter on.

She subsequently decided to return them to the store on the basis that they aren't fit for the purpose they were purchased for - to be hung up on a pole, like every other set of curtains I have seen in my several decades of life.

It is not a case of them not being fit for purpose, it is just that she bought the wrong ones.

Assuming there is a curtain tape on the curtains you put the usual hooks on the curtains and buy the rings to go on the poles that have small eyelets on the bottom for the hooks to go through to attach the curtains. You can buy the rings and hooks as sets for this purpose. I've never used curtains with rings in them, but I've seen them, I've either used curtain tracks and hooks or rings as described above on poles.

Eyelet, tab top, pencil pleat, pinch pleat, goblet, box pleat.

Rings, hooks, rings and hooks, loops, eyelets, tabs. Poles or tracks. Round rings or half plastic sliders.

Pressure mounted, wall mounted, recess mounted.

I’m no curtain expert but that’s my curtain mounting knowledge from my several decades of life. What type of curtains did you buy?

Buy rings for the pole, hooks for the tape at the top of the curtain - that works. We did that in dc bedroom.
Dunelm would advise you- in the curtain depth. I've found them very helpful
Website good too
Disclaimer- I don't work for them 😃

Oh my actual giddy aunt!. Erm not all curtains slide on a pole. There would be a pace at the top for curtain hooks. How can anyone be this dense?

On the back of the curtains at the top, is this stuff called curtain tape. It has 3 rows of little threads that you loop curtain hooks through. I generally use the middle row. Your pole usually comes with rings. You take these off if you buy eyelet curtains but you can buy them separately if they’re lost (I have done for a bay window pole that came without the rings. Make sure you buy the right size ring for the pole). At the bottom of each ring is another much smaller ring, either welded or a little clip on S shape in plastic & metal rings, or screwed in to wooden rings. What you do is count how many rings you have on the pole, put half on each side, count the loops on the curtain tape, to evenly add the same amount of curtain hooks as the rings you have. The hooks look like little white prawns. They are usually plastic but you can get metal, both do the job. The ‘tail’ of the curtain hook goes up and through the loop on the back of your curtain then to you secure it, you pull it through so that the ‘tail’ is pointing down. Now the body of the hook is behind the tape & the tail is out. Once all the hooks are in the curtain, you hang them through the rings that are on the pole.

You've never seen a set of curtains with header tape for hooks instead of eyelets? Am I just misunderstanding the OP because curtain poles usually come with rings to hang non-eyelet curtains from. What did you think they were for?

My daughter bought a car. It had no gear stick. Every other car we’ve ever had has had a gear stick. She returned the car saying it was not fit for purpose. Question - how do people drive cars that have no gear sticks? Do they use glue, Velcro, maybe polyjuice potion?

You either use curtain hooks that track directly onto a tracker, or if you have a pole, you buy rings that you thread the hooks through. or you can buy rings that have tiny clips on the bottom and you clip these to the curtains.

Pinch pleat with no tape....... what was I thinking.🤔
Ours are pinch pleat and use sharp metal hooks that go through the material itself.

Blimey, I'm at it now!😖
Time for a cuppa.

😂

She subsequently decided to return them to the store on the basis that they aren't fit for the purpose they were purchased for - to be hung up on a pole, like every other set of curtains I have seen in my several decades of life.

Blimey, I sometimes wonder how people manage to get through the day.

Your daughter must have done enough research into curtains to know what width/length she was buying, but it didn't occur to her to buy the right type?

Then, when she got them home and couldn't work out how to operate them, decided they must be 'not fit for purpose' rather than it occurring to her that she'd bought the wrong ones?!

If you go to curtains on a website, eg Argos-the first thing it asks you is what type do you want...

Eyelet curtains are very out of fashion now. They were in about ten years ago, maybe. Curtains are now more likely to be how they used to be - with curtain header tape to make pleats, where you add hooks with the rings to go over the poles. Or you make your own pleats with pleating hooks.

@Nourishinghandcream , if the hooks went through the material itself the curtains wouldn’t last long.

I have hand sewn triple pleat curtains but they have curtain tape. The three rows of gathering thread mean you can adjust the hanging length of the curtains slightly, depending on which row you put the hooks through.

I’ve never seen curtains without heading tape or big metal rings, but Mumsnet continues to educate me.