Weekend Project: Making Pinch Pleat Curtains

Having just finished the extension phase to our family home, I'm now up to the stage of window furnishings. As I blew the budget on having the window furnishings in the master bedroom professionally made, I compromised with my husband by promising to make the family, kitchen/dining & lounge room curtains!

So with a tight budget, I headed down to the mayhem that is Spotlight on a Saturday afternoon, to buy everything that I need. I will break this project up into a few posts as I go through making them. But to start with I will give you an indication of working out exactly what you need to buy.

Working out the amount of fabric needed.

• Measure the windows height (known as the drop) x width.
• Typically, you multiple the width x 2.5 to give you a nice gather.
• My windows are 2.7m wide so I needed a width across of 6.75m.
• The drop is 2.1m so I allowed 2.5 metres for hems top & bottom (this is quite generous - I wouldn't allow anymore)
• Find out the width of the fabric you wish to purchase. My fabric width is 1.2m which means I will need 6 widths of fabric (6 x 1.2m = 7.2m) to cover the 6.75m needed.
• I will need 2.5m drops x 6 widths across = 15m per window.
• I have 3 windows at this size so I needed 45m.

Other items needed:

• As I have chosen to do a pinch pleat style, I purchased a suitable tape header (you get all of these from the curtain department counter).
• I needed 3 x 6.75m = 20.25m
• The tracks are adjustable in size and come in a range of colours so select what is most suitable for your window.
• Even though the track came with gliders, I purchased an extra bulk pack.
• When using a pinch pleat tape you need a pronged hook. In my case I needed a 4 prong, 25mm deep pleat hook.
• Other items such as matching cottons & basic sewing accessories will also be required.