Curtains
Enter your window and choose a heading and a length. You get the pole width, the finished drop, how wide each curtain must be, and how much fabric to buy if you make them.
Look for curtains at least 190 cm wide each (flat, as labelled) with a drop of at least 234 cm; shorter is no good, longer can be hemmed.
Common UK widths, sold in pairs, with the fullness each gives on your pole. Standard US panel lengths that cover your drop: 96 in or 108 in.
Window: measure the outside of the frame, edge to edge, then from the top of the frame to the sill, and from the floor to the sill. If your pole or track is already up, set the extension so the pole width matches yours (between the finials).
Pole or track: Dunelm suggests about 20 cm each side of the window; Bob Vila suggests 8 to 12 inches, so open curtains stack beside the glass instead of over it. Hang it at least 10 cm (4 in) above the frame; higher makes the window look taller.
Fullness is how much wider the flat fabric is than the width it covers. Twice the pole width is the usual standard; each heading has its own range (see the table).
Length: sill length stops 1 cm above the sill, below-sill 15 cm under it, floor length 1 cm clear of the floor, and a puddle lies on the floor (in inches we use ½, 6 and ½ in). The drop is measured from the top of the pole for eyelets, from the eye of the ring on a pole with rings, and from the top of a track.
Returns and overlap: a return is fabric that turns from the front of the rod back to the wall; an overlap is where a pair crosses on a track with overlap arms. Measure both on your fitting and they are added to the width.
Fabric: widths are the total flat width divided by the usable fabric width, rounded up; a pair may share a width split down the middle. Each drop is cut to the finished drop plus the making allowance, rounded up to whole pattern repeats so the widths match.
Example: a 150 cm window with 20 cm each side needs a 190 cm pole. Floor length from 235 cm gives a 234 cm drop. At 2× fullness that is 380 cm of flat width: three widths of 137 cm fabric, each cut 264 cm, so 7.92 m.
Blinds, table linen, bedding and rugs, each with its own calculator.
Inside or outside the recess, three widths and three drops, and the size to order.
Rectangle, square, round or oval tables, casual to floor-length drops, in cm and inches.
Mattress, duvet and sheet sizes for the US, UK, Europe, Australia and Japan, compared.
The right rug for a living room, dining table or bed, drawn to scale in your room.
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Try WebTraceCheckMeasure the pole or track, not the glass. For gathered curtains the flat fabric is usually about twice the pole width in total, and up to two and a half times for a fuller look. Eyelet and wave headings use a little less, and tab tops less again, because their folds are set by the heading.
Most guides stop them about 1 cm (½ inch) above the floor, so they hang straight, open easily and stay clean. If you want them to touch or pool, add a few centimetres; Dunelm describes puddled curtains as ending 2 to 7 cm below the floor line.
It depends on the heading. Eyelet and tab top curtains are measured from the top of the pole, because the pole runs through the fabric. Pencil and pinch pleat curtains on rings are measured from the eye of the ring, where the hook goes, and curtains on a track from the top of the track.
Every drop has to start at the same point of the pattern so the widths line up when they are sewn side by side. Each cut is rounded up to a whole number of repeats, and the extra is cut away, so a large repeat can add close to one repeat to every drop.
In UK shops the width on the label is usually the flat width of one curtain, sold in pairs. Dunelm's rule is that each curtain should be about as wide as the pole for a standard look. US panels are often sold singly, so check whether the price is for one panel or two.