Whether sewn by you, a friend, or a professional curtain-maker, made-to-measure curtains give you the widest choice of fabric and heading. They may be the only option if your windows don't conform to the standard sizes of ready-made curtains.
Choosing Fabric
Sheers, voiles, and laces are very thin fabrics that give daytime privacy and help screen an ugly outlook.
Medium-weight fabrics, like cotton prints or linen, give privacy after dark but, unless lined, will not keep out the morning light or stop heat loss and draughts.
Heavy fabrics, like velvet, chenille, or tapestry, are good for keeping light out and keeping heat in.
Fabric seconds can be great bargains, but find out what the fault is before you buy. A pattern printed just slightly askew will look conspicuously crooked once it's hanging at a window.
Heading Tapes
The heading tape hides the edge of the top of the curtain, holds the cords that are used to draw up the curtain fabric to the required width, and provides slots to hold the curtain hooks. These are the most popular heading tapes:
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Gathered or Standard Heading
Pulls the fabric into an irregular ruffle. Good for unlined, lightweight fabrics. Allow one and a half to three times the width of the pole or track.
Suitable for all fabrics. Allow twice the width of the pole or track (three times for lightweight fabric).
This heading tape makes regular and evenly spaced pleats. This means that you cannot always gather the fabric to exactly the right width, so you must err on the generous side when calculating the fabric required or the curtains won't meet in the middle. Pronged hooks, which are more expensive than standard hooks, hold the pleats in place. Allow twice the width of the pole or track.
An eye-catching heading, especially if each goblet is finished with a fabric-covered button. Like pinch pleats, they are evenly spaced. Allow two and a half times the width of the pole or track.
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