Four questions, and the heading picks itself
Heading styles are usually presented as a menu: pencil pleat, pinch pleat, eyelet, wave. That is useful once you know what you are looking for, and unhelpful when you do not, because the names describe how the curtain is made rather than which one suits your window.
A quicker route is to answer four questions about the room and the hardware. Most people find that by the third one there are only one or two headings still standing. If you want the styles themselves described in detail, side by side, the curtain headings guide is the fuller reference. This piece is just about deciding.
1. What is the curtain hanging from?
Start here, because this rules things out faster than anything else.
If you already have a track, or you want one, the heading has to be one that hangs from gliders. If you have a pole, most headings will work on it using rings, and one will not: eyelets slide directly over the pole itself, so an eyelet curtain needs a pole, not a track, and the pole has to be one the eyelets will actually pass over.
The sizes are fixed, which makes that easy to settle. Our eyelets are 40mm internal diameter and run on poles up to 28mm, so a 19mm, 25mm or 28mm pole is fine and a 35mm or 45mm pole is not. Remember that the curtain goes on over the end of the pole, so the finial has to come off and the brackets have to let the eyelets pass.
If the hardware is not settled yet, decide it alongside the heading rather than after it. The comparison of poles and tracks covers that choice, and the article on eyelets versus rings is the one to read if you are torn between hanging methods.
2. How much do you want the top of the curtain to show?
The heading is the only part of a curtain where the making is visible, and headings differ mainly in how much they draw attention to themselves.
A hand-finished pleated heading is a deliberate detail. It sits at the top of the curtain in a regular rhythm, holds its shape whether the curtains are open or closed, and reads as tailored. In a formal room, or on a tall window where the eye travels up, that detail is doing something.
A gathered heading is quieter. It softens the top of the curtain into an even ruffle and does not ask to be noticed, which suits a room where the fabric or the window is the point.
Eyelets are the most modern-looking of the common headings and the least fussy. The fabric falls into deep, even, tubular folds and the metal rings become part of the look. That reads well in a plainer, more contemporary room and can look out of place against period joinery.
Wave headings give a continuous, regular S-curve with no pleat detail at all, and depend on a track system that supports them.
3. Where do the curtains go when they are open?
This is the question people skip, and it is the one that causes regret.
Headings fold back differently. Some stack into a deeper, bulkier bundle at the end of the pole. Others fold flatter and take up less width. On a window with generous wall on both sides that difference does not matter. On a narrow window, in a bay, or beside a door you use every day, it decides how much glass you keep and whether the curtain is in your way.
So before choosing on looks alone, measure the wall you have to stack onto at each side. If it is tight, favour a heading that folds back more compactly, and be realistic about fabric weight at the same time, because a heavy cloth stacks wider than a light one whatever the heading.
4. How full do you want the curtain to look?
Fullness is how much fabric is gathered across the width the curtain covers, and the heading largely sets it. A flatter curtain looks crisp and modern. A fuller one looks soft and traditional, and holds more shadow in the folds.
The two interact: the same fabric in two different headings can produce noticeably different amounts of gather, and therefore a different amount of stack when open. The article on curtain fullness explains what actually changes visually.
The ratios are fixed by the heading, so you can work the fabric out before you order. Pencil pleat and pinch pleat are made at 2.5 times the pole or track width. Wave is 2.2 times. Eyelet and tab top are 2 times. On a 200cm pole that is 500cm of finished curtain width in pencil pleat against 400cm in eyelet, and that gap is why the two headings stack so differently at the sides. On a made-to-measure order you can ask for a different fullness if the fabric or the stack-back calls for it.
Putting the four together
Run through them in order. The hardware usually eliminates one or two headings outright. The look of the room narrows what is left to a shortlist of two. The stack-back settles it on a tight window, and the fullness question tells you whether the result will read as tailored or as soft.
If two headings survive all four, you are in the position of choosing between two right answers, and either will look correct. At that point pick the one that suits the fabric you have chosen, since a crisp pleat needs a fabric that will hold a fold and a heavier cloth can look bulky in a heading meant for something lighter.
Next step
Read the curtain headings guide for the styles in detail, then take your window measurements before you order anything, using the curtain measurement finder to work out what to record. If the window is awkward or you want a second opinion on the heading, the free design consultation is the place to raise it.