Curtain hanging issues

[longtompot]

I bought some curtains for our bedroom a few years ago and haven't had success with hanging them up.
Previously we had eyelet curtains which were a breeze to hang up and to draw open and closed, but our bedroom is south facing and despite blackout blinds we were still getting woken as soon as the sun rose, especially in the summer months.
These have heading tape so I bought some curtain rings and used the standard plastic hooks. Unfortunately I think the curtains are too heavy and the hooks kept snapping.
I have now bought some metal hooks and they don't break, but they pinging off and I keep finding them on the floor.

HELP!

The curtains are 100% cotton with a blackout lining attached.
The pole is an IKEA metal one.
The rings are metal rings, as are the hooks.
I have attached the hooks onto the curtain tape approx every 4"

Silly question but are you attaching the hooks correctly?

Hi @longtompotcould you post some pictures to make it easier for people to help?

First thing I'd say is you need more hooks and rings.

Can you photo what hooks you are using, how you've attached them to the heading tape?

Are they curtain hooks or pin hooks? Have a look online there are videos on how to hang curtains that are gathered with tape.

It does sound as though something is wrong with either the type of hooks - as @fruitbrewhaha suggests (are you sure they're the correct ones?) or else they're not attached correctly.....

We've never had eyelet curtains, preferring chunky wooden/metal poles with rings and metal hooks, but haven't experienced issues with the hooks pinging off - and our curtains tend to be heavy weight fabric with interlining in addition to blackout lining.

We have a very weighty (two thicknesses of fabric plus interlining) door curtain and the hooks often come unhooked from the rings - but never ping right off onto the floor.

Plastic hooks, otoh, are the work of the devil - there were some in place at a south-facing window when we bought this house and as soon as I moved them, they snapped because they were so brittle.

@longtompot I just wanted to say, you have my sympathy because I always get curtains wrong as well

If the metal ones are pinging off, I think that might also be the weight of the curtain causing them to warp and then ping off

I'm going to have to get eyelet curtains I think (a pain because then I have to figure out the curve that the rail will have to deal with)

and thank you for posting this because it confirms my belief that the plastic ones I'm using are breaking due to heat, as a pp mentioned.

Thank you all. As far as I know I have attached the hooks correctly, but am happy to be corrected. I'll take some photos in the morning and pop them up on here.

I think I have about 15 hooks and rings for each curtain, plus another 4 I think on the other side of the end brackets to stop them going too far when drawing them and allowing light around the edges.
The windows themselves aren't very wide, but we have hung the curtain pole to go across both and then have a wall of curtains iyswim. The curtains are almost ceiling height and are floor length.
The hooks are just metal versions of the plastic ones, not the pin ones mentioned.

The curtains themselves I've really not warmed to as they aren't made very well and don't hang very well anyway. The lining hasn't been sewn on very straight so the front curls and shows the lining on the front. I am thinking of undoing the stitches down each side so the lining and curtain front can hang free and maybe look nicer.

Have you tighened the string on the header tape to make the curtains the right size for the window when they are closed? They should be double the width of the pole before they are gathered using the string otherwise they are too small for the window.

@Geneticsbunny yes, I have done that.

Ok, photos as promised. Not great, and the curtains are navy blue not the weird faded purple the pics make them look.

A couple of things that might help: you can squeeze the metal curtain hooks to stop them pinging off and you can lubricate the pole with silicone spray or silicone hair serum. This will lessen the drag which pulls the hooks from the rings.
Every ring should have a hook in it

The saggy bit where the curtains join is because the strings need tightening a little bit more. More curtain rings would help a bit and the pleats need evening out a bit so the curtains are the same all the way across the window.
If the ringa are catching on the pole when you draw the curtains, you can put some wax or furniture polish on the pole and it makes it a bit easier.

Ok, should have said, the saggy bits have or had hooks attached but they came off and there are rings on the pole in those sections. The sag isn't due to the threads not being tightened enough, they have been done to the width required. I have just left them like this as I have been in the middle of other projects and I am just fed up with these curtains, but can't afford to get new ones.

But I take it I haven't gone mad and have put the hooks on the right space?

My issue is the hooks or the rings, or both, and hoped maybe someone had a recommendation for some genius hooks or rings that can take a heavier weight curtain. I don't think the rings are catching but I will try spraying wd40 on the pole and I will try squeezing the hooks when they are on the rings to make them stay in place.
I think I will also detatch the lining from the curtain and see if it hangs better

No genius suggestions, but for years my preference has been for chunky wooden poles of 50mm/63mm diameter with matching wooden rings and metal hooks and have never had any problems.

I’ve always used plastic hooks and have never had them ping off, but they seem to have an extra hook inside compared to your metal ones

Maybe IKEA Riktig curtain hooks would help?

@Offcom they look like they might just do the job! Thank you

@Offcom The curtain hooks you recommended are brilliant, so thank you so much! I need to redo where I have some of the curtain rings, but the curtains are sliding really nicely when drawing them

@longtompot glad you updated

It's still on my list of things to do to look these up! But if they're good, then maybe I can just change the fixture and won't need to order new curtains.

Oh well done, so glad it worked!

They really are worth a try. A little fiddly to fit but I think that's just where the pockets on my heading tape were overstretched by the previous hooks. They just kept getting caught on some of the looser threads.

I’ve always used hooks like these as they give the heading some structure as opposed to the curly ones that just let the fabric dangle.