Where do you buy your curtains - ready made & made to measure?

[Madmog]

Haven't bought curtains for years, so went to a couple of places yesterday - BHS Home had nothing in and Dunelm didn't have many available. I know somewhere in town you can buy them made to measure but know they'll be really expensive. So where do others buyer theirs? It's nice to have a choice.

In all fairness most of our windows are non standard, but I'm prepared to turn up a hem, not have curtains quite so gathered if it means some of it will be cheaper. We've recently moved in and all the curtains we bought with us are about 8" too short, so want to get some good ideas of whats around and what we can afford to replace. In the end think we'll have to do a mix of ready made & made to measure.

Dunelm near me have a made to measure department as well as lots of ready mades. Try also Terry's Fabrics, John Lewis and Debenhams.

Look in the sale sections (online) for John Lewis and Next too. If you need to shorten curtains with a heading tape (e.g. pencil pleat) then take it off and shorten them from the top, so much easier than the hem!

247 curtains.

Also local curtain shop sells ready made and adjusts the length for £20, so that's an easy and cheap way to get made to measure (ish)

Next sale made to measure - great value and well made. We have 3.4m bifold doors and were getting ridiculous quotes elsewhere. Got M2M lined eyelet curtains for less than £300!

Terrys Fabrics online

Natural curtain company, online. They have a good range of lengths, do blackout lining and come up lovely.

I had 3 blinds made by alison Campbell and I'd definitely recommend them.

John Lewis

John Lewis and House of Fraser.

I've got some ready mades from John Lewis which are OK.

Also some ready made eyelet ones from Next which are much better than I expected - they hang really nicely.

Why not buy over long ready mades and adjust the length to suit you, or get a local seamstress to do it. Sure this will work out cheaper than ordering made to measure

I bought mine from Graham Sanderson Fabrics (online).
They were super expensive (£600) but I think genuinely the nicest thing I have ever owned, even including house/car/engagement ring etc. Highly recommended for posh fabric and beautifully made things. They have a 50% sale but the price I paid included the reduction(!)

Don't know what I was thinking, really, except that I love them.

IKEA do ready made dirt cheap. They are all super long but come with iron on webbing for you to turn them up to suit your length.

Not the best range or quality, but if you want a cheap stop gap they are worth a look.

I have some of the nicer ones in the playroom, I think they were £20

I went to B & M for my last ones . They are very good, I have no complaints and cheap. Previously I bought from catalogues - Kays and JD Williams mainly. Again decent enough. I find it hard to get pretty curtains , I have been doing the chinz recently.

There isnt a John Lewis or Ikea near me and I like to be able to see what I am buying properly. In catalogues they are easily sent back.

Thank you so much for your replies. This gives me lots of choice (which is nice to have). I never thought about buying online either, but have had a look at some of those websites and found they do fabric swatches so I can be sure it's what we want.

Dunelm - massive choice at the one near me.

Ikea, it's a bit hit and miss but I have really long windows and that is the only place I can get the length I want without getting made to measure.

I usually buy two pairs, sew them together and line them for fullness.

I recommend Terrys online. They will deliver ready mades next day if they have them in stock, made to measure takes slightly longer. V good website. 2 shops in Stoke and Stockport , if you live that way.

The Alison Campbell blackout roman blinds I ordered came with 7 ugly rows of fabric-destroying stitching ACROSS THE ENTIRE WIDTH OF THE BLINDS. The stitches not only ruin the fabric and presentation of the blinds, but they also let light in through the 'blackout blinds'.
The blackout blinds I ordered from campbellcreations.co.uk were of extremely poor workmanship quality and look like they were made by an amateur. The 5 blinds I ordered cost me nearly £1,500 in the Alison Campbell sale. I wish I had never come across cambellcreations.co.uk - ever. I have attached a picture of one of the blinds showing the 7 ugly rows of stitching. I hope this review helps.