A Guide to Double Pinch Pleat Curtains
From grand Victorian parlours and lavish banquet halls to today’s transitional living rooms and modern great rooms, double pinch pleat curtains have long transformed spaces with their elegant folds and timeless appeal. They reflect meticulous craftsmanship in their sculptural pleats, much like the finest homes they complement.
Double pinch pleat drapes capture the timeless elegance and handcrafted charm of their French triple pinch pleat cousins, but with a slightly pared-back silhouette. Therefore, decor enthusiasts seeking rich character and tailored sophistication—with just a touch less detail—often prefer the double pinch pleat style.
If you’re interested in dressing your windows with double pinch pleat curtains and looking for tips to get your journey started, this blog post is for you. From salient features and complementing fabrics to installation techniques, we explore everything about this elegant heading style here. Come along!
Double Pinch Pleat Curtains: A Snapshot of the Style
Double pinch pleat curtains feature evenly spaced pinch pleats, ‘fixed’ along the width of the curtain. Each pleat comprises two folds of fabric held together and ‘pinched’ at the bottom, creating an hourglass-like structure with fabric ruched upward and downward. So, each pleat looks like a ‘V’, earning them their contemporary name - the two-finger pleat curtains. These embellished pleats transform the curtains into an artistic treat, rich with visual texture and formal dressiness. And that’s not even the full story yet!
Double Pinch Pleat Curtains: Perks to Pick
When form blends with function, you get a space that is as efficient as it is beautiful. This integration of design and purpose is visible in double pinch pleat curtains, whose embellished pleats do more than just elevate the look of your space. Tucked within those pretty folds is the secret to their other impressive accomplishment - their top-notch functionality. How do embellished headers enhance the performance of this drapery? Let’s find out -
BESPOKE, NOT RUN-OFF-THE-MILL: Double pinch pleat curtains set your home apart from the cookie-cutter crowd. You won’t find them on store shelves. They are almost always custom-tailored, much like haute couture, because true elegance is never mass-produced! Designed to fit each window, each room, each setting, pinch pleats embody elegance that can’t be replicated. If you want to subtly flaunt the thoughtfulness behind your home’s decor, these curtains will make the statement for you.
VERSATILITY WITH DECOR STYLES: Double pinch pleat curtains, quite like their dressier counterparts - French triple pinch pleat drapes - are one of the finest among bespoke drapery. This makes them top suitors for period homes, eclectic living rooms, classical dining rooms, extravagant bedrooms, grand Palladian windows, and formal entryways. But, by notching down their pleats to a two-fold, less ceremonial profile, double pinch pleat curtains have made a place for themselves in transitional, modern, and semi-formal spaces too. So while they may don a purple silk and golden trims, and go on an antique filigree bronze pole in a heritage home, in a modern home, they may relax in a plain neutral cotton paired with a sleek matte black pole. Thus, although classical in essence, the double pinch pleat style can easily adapt to more contemporary spaces when done thoughtfully.
SUMPTUOUS & INSULATIVE: The deep, elegant folds of double pinch pleat curtains are achieved through a rather generous use of fabric in their making. This voluminous gather of fabric, often further enhanced with a lining at the back, makes these curtains impressively insulating. And the lush pleats distributed evenly across the panel render a sumptuous and tailored appeal fitting for dressed-up spaces.
SMOOH GLIDE ASSURED: Double pinch pleat curtains take the assistance of accessories like rings or track carriers that ensure an easy glide across the pole/track. This unfussy operation makes them great suitors for frequently operated windows and heavy extra-long/wide panels.
ADAPTIBILITY WITH HARDWARE: Double pinch pleat curtains can go on both tracks and poles, so no matter what hardware is currently installed in your home, you can hang these curtains without making any additional investment.
LIGHT BLOCKING COVERAGE: The smallest of chinks can be extremely annoying in bedrooms and media rooms where room-darkening is one of the prime goals. Here, double pinch pleats come out as winners as the header is ‘full coverage’ that leaves no breaks for light to seep in.
HOMESEWN WISDOM: The heading style of your drapes is just one factor in room darkening - check out our blog on How to Plug Light Leaks in your Drapery for all the essential design hacks.
ELEVATING FOR PLAIN FABRICS: Plain curtains stand the risk of giving off an overly minimalist appeal, especially when designed in underwhelming heading styles. Quite the contrary, double pinch pleat drapes offer deep pleats and elegantly sculptural headers that add depth and dimension, enhancing a plain fabric’s colour, lustre, and texture. The result is a sculptural, refined look that is anything but plain!
HAUL EM' HOME: Silk Curtains | Velvet Curtains | Damask & Paisley Curtains
Double Pinch Pleat Drapes: Points to Ponder
Like all drapery heading styles, double pinch pleat curtains have their place, and it’s not everywhere. They are high-end and give off major luxe vibes - and yet - not every room seeks that aesthetic. So, before you commit to this heading style, consider these key factors—
NOT FOR CASUAL LOCALES: While double pinch pleat curtains can seamlessly blend with less dressy decor styles, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they are not the best fit in ultra-casual spaces. A laid-back coastal home peppered with lazy linens, a window seat of an unassuming cottage, or a rigorously trimmed minimalist home is not where these embellished curtains can feel truly at ease. Double pinch pleat curtains are a bit too tailored for an aesthetic that thrives on effortlessness and a lived-in feel.
PRECISE MEASUREMENT: 'Fixed-pleat' heading styles offer the unique advantage of a uniform fall and rich gather, but here’s where they fall short - flexibility! Unlike non-pinched, hand-gathered styles, these curtains cannot be stretched out for more coverage as the pleats are pre-sewn, fixed on the header. So, precision of measurement is extremely important for perfect-fit double pinch pleat curtains.
MORE ROOM FOR STACK & CLEARANCE: Full-bodied and structured, double pinch pleat curtains need more space to stack than free-flowing, low-width heading styles. So, if you cannot extend the drapery pole a few inches on both sides to allow the drapes to gather past the window frame, they will stack on the window, blocking a part of it permanently. Therefore, it is better to avoid this style for narrow windows with no wall surround to stack the curtains.
Sizing Made Simple: Measuring for Double Pinch Pleat Curtains
Getting the right width and length is crucial to achieving the tailored elegance that double pleat curtains are known for. Fortunately, this is not hard to achieve, even for those who have never had a stint with measuring tapes. So whenever you’re ready to pick the tape, head on to our Drapery Measurement Guide, where we lead you through a step-by-step process with illustrations for easy grasping.
Hanging Made Hassle-Free: Installing Double Pinch Pleat Drapes
Great art - whether on canvas or drapery - needs to be displayed with care to truly shine. Double pinch pleat drapes are masterpieces that deserve a perfect frame of well-considered hardware and accessories to achieve an elegant drape and fall. So, what are the hardware options for double pinch pleat curtains, and how are the curtains hung on them? We explore below -
Hardware & Accessories
Double pinch pleat drapes can be hung on both drapery poles and tracks. Curtain tracks are discreet and allow the curtains to steal the show entirely, though they may not necessarily align with the decorative details of classical homes where pinch pleats truly belong. So, unless you already have tracks installed, we recommend decorative drapery poles as the first choice for this heading style. And let the decor narrative come full circle when they are accompanied by complementary finials and hold-backs.
Furthermore, for tracks, you will need drapery hooks, and for poles, you will need eyelet rings and drapery pins.
You can calculate the number of hooks/pins required with a simple calculation: number of pinch pleats, plus two for the curtain’s edges. As for the number of pleats, this can be estimated from the width of the panel, as we space the pleats typically 3-4 inches apart. So, for example, for an 80-inch panel, you will need a minimum of 22 (80/4 = 20 + 2) hooks/pins. It helps to have a few extra handy, of course!
Steps to Hang Double Pinch Pleat Curtains
Whether you use tracks or poles, the steps to hanging double pinch pleat curtains are the same to a large extent. And here is how it goes:
STEP 1: Flip your curtains over, and you’ll see a 4-inch wide header tape sewn along the top hem with three different lines/levels of pin insertion points. The first step is to choose the level to insert the pins. What should this choice factor in? Your desired drop point.
Keep in mind: the lower the tier, the higher the curtain’s drop point. Hold up your panel close to the pole/track and gauge which drop point aligns best with your desired look. For a more accurate sense, you may even want to go for a test with a few inserted pins on a tier of your choice and partially hang the curtain to preview the finish. Once you’ve decided on the tier, move on to the next step.
STEP 2: Insert drapery pins along the tape, placing one pin behind each pleat for even spacing, and a pin on each end of the panel. Make sure they’re secure so they hang neatly.
STEP 3: Once all the pins are in place, hook their curved end into the eyelets of your curtain rings/clips/track carriers. Double-check that every pin is firmly attached to avoid any slipping or sagging. And, just like that, your curtains are up and ready to drape beautifully!
Seal the Deal: Shop Double Pinch Pleat Curtains & Drapes with Sewn
Craftsmanship meets character in the double pinch pleat style. And nothing makes us more pleased than helping dress a very well-loved home in custom drapery that feels so timelessly elegant, luxurious, and truly personal. It is this very spirit that inspires us to scour the globe looking for stylish fabrics that complement everything from classic to contemporary, so you can weave your design story with tailored pleats and subtle drama.
But what does it take for you? Just scroll through our website until you find the perfect one to grace your space. So, why wait, when the journey ahead is so packed with beauty, colour, and adventure? Get going and let Sewn deliver the magic, stitch by stitch, pleat by pleat, to your doorstep.
