Spiffy Speak

Top Tips to Make Your Custom Draperies Look WOW!

When you hang your curtains right, your room gets an instant upgrade. Once you get the hang of it (pun intended), curtains can make your room’s ceiling look higher, and make the room itself look better-dressed, more spacious, and swankier. So read on for tips to hang your curtains like a pro.

Order custom curtains and drapes from Spiffy Spools online in any size. Pick from over 3,000 fabrics and patterns!

SKIMPY IS FOR SUPERMODELS, NOT SUPER CURTAINS

Don’t be stingy on fabric. Your drapes need to give your windows complete coverage and should have enough fabric for a full gather. To achieve this, we recommend at least 2x fullness factor for drapery width. What does that mean? In simple terms, if your curtain pole measures 36 inches, buy panels that have been stitched with at least 72 inches of fabric width. Anything less is a look killer. You can read more about measuring drapery width in our measurement guide.

MAXI IS BETTER THAN MINI

Not just width, your curtain should ideally be generous in length too. Unless the wall space under a window is barred by a heating radiator or a piece of furniture, go for full-length curtains. Think floor grazers, kissers, sweepers, or even ‘puddlers’ to make your space look luxe.

READ MORE: HOW LONG SHOULD MY CURTAINS BE?

TALLER LOOKS BETTER THAN SHORTER

Avoid installing your drapery poles/tracks too close to the window frame as it makes the ceilings appear lower. Instead, mount them at least four to six inches above the window frame — or even as high as 12 inches – to create an illusion of a taller window.

TEND TO EXTEND

Extending the pole a few inches beyond the frame on each side makes a window feel grander and allows extra light to stream in when the curtains are open. The extra pole width allows the fabric to gather against the wall without blocking the window. Extend anywhere from 6 to 20 inches on either side depending on panel width and how much stacking room they need.

TAME THE FLARE

New curtains tend to flare at bottom and can take time to fall into straight and shapely pleats. Give your curtains a helping hand by training the pleats. Start by folding your drapes with hands along the pleats moving from top to bottom. Tie along the length loosely at 3-4 places with ribbon lengths. Leave for 2 weeks. Untie to reveal perfect pleats! You can also steam your curtains for faster pleat setting. To read more about our recommended technique with helpful visuals, click here.

TURN THE RETURN

A “drapery return” is the measurement from the wall to where the curtain hangs off of the rod. Imagine yourself standing looking to the side of the curtain and being able to see several inches of space between the curtains and the window. Not only is the gaping space unattractive, it makes your drapery less effective at blocking out light. To handle drapery returns, we recommend our tried and tested hook-eye method. All you need is a hook and eye installed on the sides of the curtain wall underneath your drapery rod/pole. It should be screwed in where the last pleat hook is. Find some handy reference images here.