Made-to-measure curtains are made to the measurements you supply, in the fabric, heading and lining you choose. Nothing is trimmed to fit or hemmed to length afterwards.
That matters most on the windows ready-made sizes handle badly: tall sash windows, wide bays, doors, and anything where the drop falls between the standard lengths. This page explains the order the decisions come in, and what you need to have ready.
What made-to-measure actually changes
Three things. The curtain is sized for your window rather than the nearest stock size, so the hem sits where you want it and the pair meets properly in the middle. The heading and lining are chosen for the room instead of coming as a fixed combination. And the fabric range is far wider than the small number of fabrics that get produced as ready-mades.
It is also the honest answer for heavy fabrics. A weighty curtain made to the correct width and drop hangs the way it was meant to, provided the pole or track underneath it is up to the job. If you want the longer version of this argument, read why made-to-measure curtains.
1. Choose the fabric
Start with colour and texture, since that is the decision you will live with. Then think about weight and drape, because they determine how the curtain behaves once it is up, and about pattern scale in relation to the size of the window.
See the fabric in your own room before committing. Screens flatten texture and shift colour, and a fabric that looks warm in a photograph can read quite differently against your walls. Browse the fabrics range, then order fabric samples and look at them at the window in daylight and again in the evening.
2. Choose the heading
The heading changes the character of the curtain and dictates what it can hang from. Pleated headings give a tailored top with regular folds. Eyelet headings give a simpler, more contemporary look and run directly on a pole.
Choose the heading and the hardware together, not one after the other, because some combinations do not work. We make pencil pleat, double pinch pleat, triple pinch pleat, eyelet, wave and tab top headings. Wave is the one with a condition attached, as it needs a compatible wave track or a pole with an integrated wave track. The curtain headings guide sets out each style and what it needs behind it.
3. Choose the lining
Lining affects light, privacy, handle and how much the finished curtain weighs. A bedroom usually leads with light control. A sitting room more often leads with how the fabric falls.
Adding lining, and adding interlining on top of it, makes the curtain heavier, which feeds straight back into the hardware decision. You can specify a standard cotton sateen lining, a blackout lining or a thermal lining with any of our made-to-measure fabrics, and interlining can be added beneath any of the three. The curtain linings guide covers what each option changes in the room.
4. Measure the window
What you measure depends on what is already fitted. If the pole or track is up, the curtain is sized from the hardware. If nothing is fitted yet, the hardware position has to be decided first, because it sets both the width and the drop.
The curtain measurement finder walks through every measurement in order and explains what each one is for. For the hardware itself, the measuring guide covers poles and tracks. Bays, bifolds and anything out of square are worth a conversation before you order.
5. Complete the hardware
If you still need something to hang the curtains from, decide it now rather than later. The heading, the weight and the shape of the window between them point to a pole or a track.
Look at curtain poles if the hardware is part of the look, or curtain tracks if you want it to disappear, and see the complete window page for how the two decisions fit together.
What happens after you order
Made-to-measure curtains are cut and made for your window in our Cambridge workroom, so the process is different from picking something off a shelf. You order, we send a confirmation email, and we check the specification and the measurements with you before anything is cut.
Allow around three to four weeks from order confirmation. Tracking details are emailed to you when the curtains are dispatched.
Because each pair is made to your measurements, the measurements need to be right before the order is placed. If you are at all unsure, have them checked first.
Returns on made-to-measure curtains
Read this before you order rather than after. Made-to-measure curtains are made to your own specification, so they are exempt from the standard 14-day cancellation right and cannot be returned or refunded because you change your mind about the fabric, the colour or the size.
Anything faulty, or made to something other than the specification you gave us, is a different matter and is always covered. Tell us and we will put it right. Our five-year guarantee against manufacturing defects applies to made-to-measure curtains as it does to everything else.
That is why we would rather check your measurements twice than take the order quickly. If there is any doubt at all about a figure, send it to us first.
Start here
If you know what you want, begin with fabric and work down this page in order. If you do not, a free design consultation is the shortest route. Tell us about the room, the window and how you want the curtains to sit, and we will help you work through the choices in the right order.