What is Gather?
This is perhaps the most confusing area for customers when they are shopping for curtains. But it needn't be, the principle is actually quite simple, once you're 'in the know'!
Every single pair of curtains, regardless of heading style, should have a certain amount of 'gather'. If a curtain had no 'gather' it would be a completely flat piece of fabric stretched across the window.
To achieve the pleated effect you notice at the top of most curtains, the curtains need to be wider than the track. This extra fabric is then 'gathered up' using the strings in the tape stitched to the top of the curtain.
The actual amount of gather depends on heading styles and personal preference, but as a general rule the width of your curtains should amount to double the width of your track. This is referred to as 'two times gather'.
Let's imagine I have a track measuring 228cm/90inches wide. Which size curtain should I buy?
Ready-made curtains are sold in pairs but are labelled with the width of each curtain. Therefore I'm going to buy the pair labelled 228cm/90inches. I will have 456cm/180inches of fabric in total, which will give me 'two times gather' and a nice full effect.
But what if my window measures 200cm wide?
Ready-made curtains are available in standard measurements: I can buy either 168cm/66" or 228cm/90" wide curtains. The smaller pair is going to give me one and a half times gather and the larger pair two and a half times gather.
There's no correct answer to this dilemma. It comes down to personal preference. There are several factors you might like to bear in mind though:
1. Price: the smaller pair is going to be cheaper and we all have a limit to our budgets, so this might be the deciding factor for you.
2. Fabric: if your curtains are a light-weight, fine voile then they will need a little extra gather in order to look full. If you've chosen a heavy, woven fabric then you might not want the extra bulk.
3. Situation: perhaps the curtains are for a spare room or holiday home. If they're not going to be used or seen often then you might prefer to buy the smaller width. If however, they're going to be hung in your sitting room it might be advisable to choose the more luxurious, fuller width.
4. Heading style: Certain styles of heading require more or less gather than others. For pencil pleat curtains we would advise making your mind up following the first three guidelines. For eyelet curtains our advice woud be slighlty different.
Eyelet curtains pleat in a concertina style and therefore always look slightly less full than pencil pleat curtains. I find that they look better with two to two and a half times gather and would always choose the larger size. The width of the tabs on tab top curtains mean that they can only be pushed back so far. Therefore the recommendation for tab top curtains is one and a half fullness.
If you're not sure what the different amounts of gather will look like, here are some photos of net curtaining to help:
We hope this post has gone some way towards de-mysifying the subject of 'gather'. We do provide a gather calculator on each ready-made curtain page. We also will automatically work out which size you need after you've entered your measurements on our made to measure product pages. But if you do need any further advice please contact us and we will be happy to help: Call 01953 603529 or email info@curtainscurtainscurtains.co.uk