Second-hand curtains that have either pinch pleats or goblet pleats have a definable fixed width. If you measure the top width of one curtain and double it that is the maximum width that pair of curtains will fit on a track or pole. Now imagine if you lay one of your curtains out on a table and stretch the top to determine the full width. Now let go of one end and that end of the curtain will ‘spring back’ into a relaxed position. This curtain maker expression of ‘spring back’ is explained by us in the term the ‘Best Width’ which we use where curtains look far better because they are more ‘relaxed’.
If you have a window that is 180 cms wide you should not be looking for a pair of curtains of the same width. This means the curtains will have to be stretched tight to be fully closed which is not a good look. Far better to have some give in the drawn curtains as they look relaxed and therefore hang much better.
In addition, most customers buying second-hand curtains would want their curtains to hang beyond the window to not take away light. This means that your track or pole should probably be at least 20 cms wider each side of the window. In the example above of the 180 cms window this means that the track or pole should be approximately 220+ cms.
The introduction of the Best Width for second-hand curtains
When we advertise second-hand curtains on our site we don’t talk about window size. Instead we talk about the width of the track/pole that you would need. For curtains with pinch pleats, goblet pleats or fixed tape pencil pleats, we therefore came up with the idea of giving you a ‘best width’ for the curtains and decided on reducing the total width measurements by 15 cms less to allow for a better look. So for the example above where the width of the track or pole is 220 cms you would be looking for curtains at least 235 cms wide. This is why we give you the ‘best width’ and the total width.
This concept does not apply to normal pencil pleat curtains as we measure the ungathered bottom width of one curtain. This measurement then translates to the maximum width the pair will fit as one ungathered curtain approximately equates to two gathered curtains.