Confused measuring for curtains!!

chocfan

Hi all

This is probably a very simple query to anybody who has bought curtains but I'm driven mad trying to work it out!

We've bought a house and hoping to buy ready made curtains to put in living room and one bedroom-just think it would be easier and cheaper than getting them made, funds are tight so we figured it would be the best way of purchasing!

Was looking at websites like Home store and more and Hickeys etc
They have standard pre-made curtain widths. I think our length is standard at around 90 inches but the width is confusing me.

Our sitting room has poles already in place which measure about 50in. The standard widths on the websites are 46inches and 66 inches

My mum was telling me you need to add on more to the measurement you've taken to allow the material to fold up when open which makes sense

Just wondering do these standard widths on the readymades (i.e. the 46 inches) take the folding element into account or do I need to almost double the measurement we've taken? we have 3 windows but they're not huge

Hope this query makes sense!!

Wyldwood

Generally speaking, the curtains should be at least twice the width of the pole (which should be about 6" wider than the window on each side), preferably 2.5 times for a nice fullness when the curtains are closed. It also depends on the heading on the curtains as pinch pleats need 2.5 times the pole whereas you can get away with twice the pole for eyelet curtains.

The measurement given on the packs of readymade curtains is for each curtain, i.e. when it says 90x90 then the width of each curtain (which is usually the first measurement) is 90 giving a total width of 180" for the pair so that suits a pole 90" wide.

Measure the length of your pole then double it and that's the minimum width of curtain you need.

chocfan

Thanks so much-that makes it much clearer!!