Guidance · From our workroom
Tailored to your window — measured in five minutes.
Every decision that shapes your drapery — explained by the people who sew it. Our tailor's tape ships with your swatches: two numbers, taken once, and the workroom takes it from there.
Fabric
We keep the Signature edit tight — a curated set of our best cloths, priced with full MSRP integrity, no clearance games. Every yard is cut and sewn in our own North Carolina workroom.
Browse the collectionHeading
Six headers, one workroom. Every pleated style is built on the same construction, so the choice is purely about how the fold reads on the wall.
House Pleat
Rod pocket + back tabs — hang it two ways.
Pinch Pleat
Tailored triple folds — the classic.
Tailored Pleat
A single crisp fold — quietly modern.
Euro Pleat
Pinched at the crown — soft, continental.
Box Pleat
Flat pressed folds — architectural calm.
Grommet
Metal rings, easy glide — relaxed and modern.
The platform
Every pleated panel we make is built on a stiffened buckram header with adjustable pin hooks on brass rings. Because the hooks re-seat, about 1.5″ of after-delivery fine-tuning lives in every pleated order, so a measurement that's a touch off never means a remake. Grommet panels hang straight from the rod — those we measure to the half-inch and sew to it.
Lining
A workroom question before a design one: how much light do you want in, how much privacy at night, and how dark you need the room to sleep.
Unlined
Soft light, natural drape
Cotton Sateen
Body and opacity
Blackout
Full light block
Panels
Single
Pair
Most windows take a pair — one panel each side. Every panel is sewn generously full — the drape you see in hotels and design magazines.
Measure
Measuring for made-to-measure
Two numbers. That's all we need — the rest is our job.
The tape is in your swatch box.
A tailor's tape ships with every swatch set — metal, marked in inches, the same kind our cutting table uses. Five minutes with it and you're done: the rod, then the floor. We never cut from a guess, so keep the tape until your drapery hangs.
The part you never calculate:
Hook drops, ring allowances, gather, stack-back, heading take-up. Our workroom sets pleat count and hook positions from your two numbers — and because every pleated panel hangs on adjustable pin hooks, there's about an inch and a half of after-delivery fine-tuning built into every order.
Hand-sewn goods are cut to the half-inch and may vary a touch with the cloth — that's the nature of made-by-hand, and the pin hooks absorb it.
Two numbers, four steps.
-
Place your rod first.
Drapery is measured from the rod, not the window. Mount the rod 6–8″ above the window frame — higher reads taller, and just below the ceiling is never wrong. Let it run 6–12″ past the frame on each side so open panels rest against wall, not glass.
No rod yet? Add ours to the order and these numbers are already decided.
-
Width — measure your rod.
Measure the rod end to end, not the window, and keep that number. On the page you'll choose a panel width and how many panels — most windows take a pair, one each side. Don't add anything for gather; the richness is already sewn into every panel. Between sizes? Send us the rod measurement and the workroom will confirm the pairing before anything is cut.
-
Length — top of the rod to the floor.
Measure at the rod's ends and in the middle; floors are rarely level — use the smallest number. That's the number the page asks for. Then choose how it meets the floor: kiss the floor (our recommendation — tailored, forgiving), break for a soft ¾″ fold, or puddle for a generous 2½″ pool. We add the allowance and handle the hem.
-
Check it twice.
We sew to the half-inch, so measure like a tailor: twice, in inches, with the metal tape from your swatch box. Cloth tapes stretch — and nothing is cut until your numbers are confirmed.
Cut to the half-inch, made in days — Ästhetik, since 1978, North Carolina.
Order swatches