Measuring guide
How to measure for fire retardant curtains, blinds and pelmets
Everything we make is made to your measurements. These guides show what to measure, where to measure it and what to write down, for each product and for the buildings you fit out.
Measure by product
All we ever need are a width and a drop in millimetres. Each guide explains where those two figures come from for that product, with diagrams, and what else to note so the make-up is right first time.
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Curtains
Tracks, poles and bare windows; where curtains should finish; stack-back, returns, overlaps, bays and ceiling-fixed tracks.
Measuring for curtains -
Roman blinds
Inside or outside the recess, the three-point width check, batten position and the 75mm-a-side rule for outside fits.
Measuring for roman blinds -
Pelmets
Sized to the track, not the window. Track width, projection and returns, and how to choose the pelmet depth.
Measuring for pelmets -
Tracks and poles
Choosing a fixing height and width, bracket projection, corded and uncorded tracks, poles and finials, and bays.
Measuring for tracks and poles
Measure by sector
The rules above hold everywhere. What changes from a hotel to a hospital is what else is in the room, how the curtains are used and cleaned, and how many windows you are measuring. Each sector guide adds those details and gives you a schedule to record them.
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Hotels
Blackout overlaps and returns, double tracks for voile and drape, pelmets and bulkheads, floor clearance for housekeeping.
Hotel measuring guide -
Care homes and hospitals
Cubicle and anti-ligature tracks, floor clearance for cleaning, radiators and guards, beds and hoists, door swings.
Care home and hospital guide -
Schools and universities
Classroom blinds and dimout for halls and AV rooms, window handles and vents, child-safe controls to BS EN 13120.
Schools guide -
Student accommodation
Measuring hundreds of near-identical rooms: room types, a master measure per type, tolerance checks and the schedule we need.
Student accommodation guide -
Offices and commercial
Full-height glazing, mullions and curtain walling, ceiling-fixed tracks, blinds per pane or per run, meeting rooms.
Office guide -
Cruise ships and ferries
Measure the rail, not the porthole; deckheads, curved bulkheads, bunks and cornices; what the yard needs on the schedule.
Cruise and ferry guide -
Holiday lodges and park homes
Bay windows, low ceilings and pitched roofs, small awkward openings, and measuring a fleet of units from one set of drawings.
Holiday lodge guide -
Restaurants and retail
Curtains as room dividers, changing-room cubicles, shopfront blinds and café curtains on a rod.
Restaurant and retail guide
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to work out fabric widths or fullness?
No. Give us the finished width and drop in millimetres and the heading type, and we work out the fabric quantity, the number of widths, the fullness and the hems. The configurator on every curtain product page does the same calculation live.
Millimetres or centimetres?
Millimetres, always. Every guide, the configurator and our order confirmations use mm. A figure in cm or inches is the most common cause of a curtain arriving the wrong size, so write the unit next to every measurement on your schedule.
Should I measure the window or the track?
The track, or the pole between the finials. Curtains hang from the fixing, not the window, so if the track is up, measure it. If nothing is fixed yet, the curtains guide tells you how to size the track from the window recess.
What if I am not confident measuring?
Send a photo with your rough sizes and we will tell you what to check. For larger projects we can measure on site. Site surveys carry a fee that depends on the location, the number of windows and the stage of the build; we confirm it before anything is booked.
Send us your sizes, or send us to site
Build a quote from any fabric page with your measurements, or send a window schedule and drawings. For larger projects we can measure on site. Site surveys carry a fee that depends on the location, the number of windows and the stage of the build; we confirm it before anything is booked.