Custom Curtains vs. Ready-Made

But should you buy custom curtains or go with ready-made? 

Here are their reasons for choosing custom curtains:

1. Ready-made curtains look very skimpy and drab. It’s true, they are either too  long, too short or not wide enough.
   

   Skimpy ready made Curtains.

   Often, store-bought curtains are only 36’’ wide by 84” long or the extra tall is 96”. To beautifully dress up your windows, you need 3 times the fullness of your window actual width. Most fabrics come to 54” wide to gather it three times, your face width will be 18”. An average window is between 45” to about 70”. To cover the window fully you need to join several cut panels widths together. Therefore to cover a 45” wide window at least 3 cuts (widths).

2. Most store-bought panels are not lined, or they’re lined with a very low quality lining. Selecting a high quality lining is very important to give the finished curtains elegance, moreover, selecting the proper type of lining that is compatible with the selected fabric is important. For example 100% cotton fabric should have lining with high cotton content like 50% cotton / 50% polyester or more. Unlined curtains will look terrible from the street as well, as it will show the color of the curtains and not white or ivory which will give the neighborhood an unsightly look.

Unlined or poor quality lining will not give the room a proper look.

3. Sometimes you cannot find interlined draperies for energy saving and for properly dressing the window, and the same goes for room darkening draperies for bedrooms or media rooms where it is mostly needed.

4. Patterns, colors, and textures are very limited, comparing it with the unlimited variety of choices available to select from with custom curtains.

5. Selecting the perfect style for the space is key to make the room look beautiful and well put together. Most people do not have the eye for design and what is the proper choice.

6. There is also the limitation in the style. You have either panels or valances at the stores. How about roman shades (very popular nowadays) cornices, or board mounted treatments?

Elegant, well designed custom draperies add beauty and pull the room together.

7. Valances in stores are very short and out dated in styles, having short valances will make the window look funny and out of proportion. Also I would rather put nothing on my window than having an outdated look!

8. There are no details that adds the personal touch and helps coordinate the room to achieve the one of a kind look.

9. The quality of fabrication is always missing when selecting store bought draperies. The hems show the stitching to the face. That is a big no-no in the custom drapery world.

Puckered hem and the stitches appear on the face of the drapery

10. Hems should be 4” double hems for the bottom and double 1.5”hems for the sides. In some cases we have used double 6” and double 8” for exceptionally tall windows. In store-bought draperies the hems are skimpy and not well finished

11. Often you see puckering at the side hem or the lower hem that should not happen.

12. The hems sometimes do not line up properly which again, is a very unsightly look.
13. Pleating styles are limited and not well done. On the other hand, with custom draperies the pleats are evenly spaced and there is a wide selection to choose from. The depth of the pleats is also important. Large pleats of six or eight inches are used for extra high windows to create the proper proportions.

14. How about the other accessories that are sometimes needed to finish the room such as pillows and other similar items? It is going to be a challenge to find a coordinating fabrics.

Here are some of our custom made, quality curtains and window treatments, we take pride in our work!

Still unsure? Schedule a Free Consultation and get an experts opinion for your home or office.