Anyone help with curtain sizes?

melg1973

Probably should be on another board but hey ho....

Am just in the process of doing up the nursery for my (sex unknown) baby due in 10 weeks and am starting to look for some ready made curtains, can only afford to spend about £20. Am a bit of a novice when it comes to curtain sizes, the width of the window is 66" so I know I need each one to be 66" wide, the trouble is the length. The window is 52" high, it has one of those old plastic tracks a good couple of inches above the top of the window, so would 54" length curtains be a tad too short. It sounds a daft question but the ones I took down (that were there when we moved in) were 57" from top to bottm so I didn't know if when curtains are described as 54" long that is the actual length or the length from the bottom of the pleaty bit - which would explain why the old ones were 57" (either that or presume they were made especially). Nearly all the childrens curtains I have seen are 54" long, many of them tab top also so think I am going to struggle.

Any thoughts anyone?

Thanks in advance.

Justie

length depends on if you have a radiator or anything else underneath it. 54" will be the full length including pleat so it's likely that the ones you took down were custom made or longer curtains that have been shortened.

As a general rule you want double the width of the window in the curtain because of the pleats (to get fullness) but if you're getting tab top you would only need 1 1/2 widths.

Personally I'd just get some cheap plain curtains and wait until baby is a bit older before you splash out on anything child specific.

squashy

I have never found it necessary to double the width TBH, that is only if you want full, billowwy curtains when they are closed. When mine close they are fairly flat looking and that isn't a problem, you can choose lined ones if you want them to block light out also. I tend to just add "half again" ie for yours I would buy something about 100" wide, or 50" per curtain. But that is just my personal preference.

You can in theory have the curtains all the way to the floor if you wish, there is no golden rule, but obviously as the other poster said if there is anything under the window you will have to take that into account. I would re-measue the window again from the bottom if the sill to the top of the plastic track and take that as your bare minimum length.

Look on ebay there are quite often curtains there, or the supermarkets and woolworths, or your local market.

Savvy_sewing

I used to be a seamstress, and was making curtains inbetween my wedding dresses.
To make a curtain, you measure from the top of the curtain pole to the desired length, either the bottom of the windowsill, a few inches below, or to the radiatior if you have one. Or of course full length. width wise each curtain would be at least 2 times the width of the window area . Remember your curtains go to the end of the poles, so that would also have to be taken into consideration.
As a rule they are about 6 inches either side of the window so that when the curtains are open there is somespace for them to hang without shutting out the light from the window in the day time.
Hope that will help you.

whatatwit

Try asking on Freecycle.
Is there a radiator beneath the window, if so, if the curtains are a bit long, you can tuck them behind the radiator to keep the heat in the room.

heather38

if you can't get ones to fit the window buy a pair either longer or shorter than you need and unpick the hem at the bottom and adjust them yourself. if you can't sew and the fabric isn't too heavy you could use wunderweb to hem them back up.

melg1973

Thanks for everyones replies. There is a radiator, about an inch under the window sill. Have seen some promising curtains on ebay which are 72" long but my mum said she would take them up for me and also line them, if no-one else bids (they have been put back on after not selling the first time) I will get them for under £10 including postage so fingers crossed. The auction has 9 days to go so a bit of a wait - am so impatient!

Glad

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jcr16

i have these one's. bigger in size tho , but i linked this size as it prob best one for you.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1264807/Trail/searchtext%3ECALICO.htm

i have found them really thick. they are not lined, but i do plan to line them later on . but i buy slightly longer than i need and i tuck them behind the radiator. it amazing how much warmer the rooms are by just doing somethign so simple.

also these curtains are great to wash .

congrats on pregnancy. not long to go. u must be due just before me.

chmmy

I also have these curtains, and they are thicker than some but not that thick and would be better with lining (we have those liner curtains which you hook in- cant remember where I got them from, a catalogue maybe a few years ago). Anyway, what I wanted to say was mine shrunk a few inches when I washed them, so it would be worth washing them before you took them up (if you bought these ones)