What do I do if I think rounding up may give me too much fullness and rounding down too little?

This is a question that we frequently get asked so I have written this article to help you decide what is the best thing to do in this situation.

Before I continue though, it’s worth noting that curtain pole packs tend to come in standard sizes of 120cm, 150cm,180cm, 240 cm, 300cm. With the shorter pole lengths, this problem doesn’t tend to arise as the difference between the pole length are small increments of 30cm. It tends to be more problematic between 180cm and 300cm where poles have been cut down to the required size for your window.

For Example

A pole length of 210cm. To make a pair of lined, double pleat curtains requiring a fullness ratio of 2.2 x fullness.

NUMBER OF WIDTHS = (210 x 2.2) ÷ 137cm (standard fabric width) = 3.37

So we are faced with rounding down to 3 widths or up to 4. Eg 1.5 widths or 2 widths per curtain if making a pair.

With experience you get a feel for what will be too skimpy and what will be too full. It is a decision that depends on factors such as;

1. Are the curtains sheer or unlined.
2. Are the curtains lined or interlined.
3. Are you wanting a thick sumptuous look
4. Do you want small dainty pleats
5. Are you rounding down to save fabric. This can make the curtains too skimpy is almost always a mistake and false economy.
6. Would switching up to a triple pleat that requires more fullness or down to a double pleat that requires less fullness be the solution.
7. Can I increase the pleats and decrease the spaces slightly (or vice versa) and accept the slight change in the width of the curtain

For me, in the above example 1.5 widths would be way too skimpy for a standard pair of lined double pleat curtains and 2 widths might be too much.

If the curtains are interlined, I would be tempted to go to 2 widths as you’d end up with pleats of approx 14 cm which would work well for interlined curtains the higher fullness ratio would be acceptable.

For sheer or unlined curtains or for a very dainty pleat, a lower fullness ratio of 1.5 widths may be more than acceptable.

Ultimately you need to take design, ability and practicalities into account when making your decision.

However, for a standard pair of lined curtains, I would make with 2 widths for per single curtain and trim both panels down to my required fullness.

The method to calculate what to cut the fabric panel down to is fully explained below. We've also got 2 resources on the website to help you make decisions.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Our PLEAT AND SPACING GUIDE gives information on fullness ratio and pleat and space sizes for different pleat types.

We have made a FULLNESS RATIO CALCULATOR to quickly check your fullness ratios when rounding up or down the number of widths. If you are logged in it also calculates the figures you will need if you choose to use this ADVANCED METHOD cutting the fabric panel width down. Plus gives an indication of pleat and space sizes for rounded down number of widths, rounded up number of widths, exact fullness width, which is really helpful in making a decision what to do.

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This tutorial is automatically unlocked when you LOG IN with any CURTAIN MAKER COURSE or PRO Subscription Passcode

This tutorial is automatically unlocked when you LOG IN with any CURTAIN MAKER COURSE or PRO Subscription Passcode

This tutorial is automatically unlocked when you LOG IN with any CURTAIN MAKER COURSE or PRO Subscription Passcode

This tutorial is automatically unlocked when you LOG IN with any CURTAIN MAKER COURSE or PRO Subscription Passcode

This tutorial is automatically unlocked when you LOG IN with any CURTAIN MAKER COURSE or PRO Subscription Passcode

This tutorial is automatically unlocked when you LOG IN with any CURTAIN MAKER COURSE or PRO Subscription Passcode