How to make a pinch pleated curtain in 10 easy steps

One of the most difficult curtains or drape to attempt to make is obviously the pinch pleated curtain, most customers will send their curtains to a professional curtain workroom who will basically return the curtain fully finished ready to hang. Follow these steps to making a successful drape

1. Basically this is how we work out how much material we are going to require, the first thing we must do is measure the width of the window and multiple it by 2, this is the amount of fullness we will be using. Ie if your window measures 200cm we will use the measurement of 400cm, we then divide this measurement by the width of the material we are using

2. So basically what we will end up with is 400cm divided by 120cm being the width of the material this equals 3./…. We now know we will need 4 widths of material. We then measure the height of the window and multiply x 4 widths, ie if your window is 200cm width x 200cm height , use the following formula 4widths x 230cm = 920cm or 9.20metres. Whatever the finished height of your window is add 30cm to this measurement to allow for hems.

3. So now we cut 4 lengths at 230cm each, the next step is to stich 2 panels together along the salvage or edge of the material, we then repeat this step with the other 2 panels remaining, so we now have 2 curtains with 2 widths of material stiched together. , This is commonly referred to 2 x 2 widths.

4. Now proceed to side hem each curtain with a double 5cm hem, ie turn the side in 5cm and then another 5cm and sew to form a side seam, now working out the pleating size is the most critical part of any curtain. We know that our window is 200cm wide, we need to add on 40cm to this overall measurement to allow for returns and full crossover in the middle of the window.

5. What we want to end up with now is 2 curtains that will each have an overall heading size of 220cm, now basically remember that to form each pleat you will need approximately 10cm of the width of the material, so starting from left hand of the curtain make a mark 12cm in blue chalk, then make a mark 10cm in red from that mark and so one across the full width of the curtain.

6. Always remember the red mark is where the pleats starts forming and the blue mark indicates the spacing between each pleat. Now working from the left hand side go to your red mark and pull the curtain in to form a triple pleat this should finish at the blue mark. Tack the top of pleat to keep it in shape and then proceed along the width of the curtain and finish off. Repeat for the other 2 width curtain

7. A little trick with this is to always have a 12” or 30cm ruler beside you at all times so that if you need to make any adjustments in between the pleat then you can do this on a gradual basis rather than trying to make it all up at the end.

8. You should now to have 2 curtains each measuring 120cm in width, you now need to tack the bottom of the pleat with forms how the curtain will fall.

9. Now the very last and very important aspect of this is to hem the curtain to the correct height with double 10cm hem at the bottom

10. Well Done your finished