Curtain Headings: What They Are, What They Do, and Why It Matters More Than You Think
Ask most people what heading they want on their curtains and they'll say they're not sure. Which is, genuinely, the right place to start. Curtain headings are one of those details that look simple on the surface and turn out to matter enormously; to how your room feels, how your curtains hang, and whether the whole thing looks considered or slightly accidental.
Here's what you actually need to know.
What Is a Curtain Heading?
The heading is the top of the curtain — the section that attaches to the track or pole and determines how the fabric falls beneath it. It's what creates the fold, the pleat, the gather or the wave. It shapes the silhouette of the curtain when closed, dictates how neatly it stacks when open, and signals whether your curtains have been properly made or simply put together quickly.
The heading choice affects fabric quantity, which track or pole you need, how the curtain moves, and how much light you lose when it's pulled back. It's not a small decision.
Pencil Pleat
The heading that's been around longest - and, in many ways, the one that's changed most.
Traditionally, pencil pleat was made entirely by hand, each small, tight fold individually created and stitched along the top of the curtain. Time-consuming work, and when done well it produced a beautifully consistent, full heading that gathered softly across the width of the window.
These days, the vast majority of pencil pleat curtains (including almost everything you'll find ready-made) are produced using a woven tape sewn across the top of the fabric. Pull the cords and the gathers form automatically. It's quick, efficient, and it gets the job done.
But pencil pleat tape is informal by nature, and if you're looking for structure at the top of your curtains, it won't give it to you. The gathered heading can look slightly messy — particularly when the curtains are open and the gathers bunch unevenly. It works beautifully in the right setting — a relaxed country kitchen, a cosy cottage bedroom, a track where you have no stack back, a room where warmth and softness matter more than precision. In those spaces it's exactly right.
What it isn't, despite being the default option in so many homes, is a one-size-fits-all solution. It became the off-the-shelf standard because it's fast and inexpensive to produce — not because it's always the best choice.
The floppy or flop-over variation takes this relaxed quality even further. A generous band of fabric at the top of the curtain folds over itself before the gathering begins, creating a soft, informal cuff effect at the heading. Unashamedly cottage in feel - charming in the right room, and completely wrong in the wrong one.
Best for: Country and cottage interiors, informal living spaces, rooms where softness and warmth take priority over sharp structure.
Pinch Pleat - Single, Double, Triple and Euro
If pencil pleat is the relaxed option, pinch pleat is the one that means business.
Each pleat is individually formed and stitched, creating a precise, structured fan of fabric with flat sections running between each pleat. It's this combination of structure and fullness that gives pinch pleat curtains their distinctive, tailored quality — and why they remain the benchmark against which other headings are measured.
In a regular pinch pleat, the pleat is pinched and stitched at the bottom of the heading, allowing the folds to fan outward as they rise. The fabric is supported by buckram (a stiffened interfacing sewn into the heading) which gives it body, structure and longevity. We recommend a 6-inch (15cm) buckram for a truly luxurious result: it creates a deep, substantial heading that hangs with real authority and holds its shape beautifully over time.
The difference between single, double and triple comes down to how many folds form each pleat.
Single pinch pleat has one fold per pleat - a softer, slightly more contemporary silhouette. Structured without being formal, and a good choice for rooms that want the quality of a made heading without the full traditional weight of triple. Because it uses less fabric volume than double or triple, it also stacks back more neatly when open — useful on narrower windows or where you want to maximise light. It works particularly well on voiles, where a contemporary 7cm heading keeps the look clean and light without losing the elegance of a proper pleat.
Double pinch pleat - two folds - sits in the middle ground. Fuller than single, slightly less formal than triple. A very good all-rounder that works across a wide range of interiors.
Triple pinch pleat is the classic. Three folds, maximum fullness, a heading that hangs with real weight and presence. This is what people mean when they say curtains look properly made. It particularly suits tall windows, generous fabric drops and rooms where the curtains are a genuine focal point.
Euro Pleat - Double and Triple
The euro pleat is a variation that many people haven't come across — and once you've seen it, it's immediately distinctive.
Where a regular pinch pleat is stitched at the bottom of the heading, a euro pleat is pinched and stitched at the top. This single difference changes the entire character of the curtain. Rather than the fabric fanning out below the pleat, it falls straight and column-like from the point of the pinch — creating a cleaner, more contemporary silhouette with a very different drape and flow.
Double and triple euro pleat follow the same fold logic as their regular counterparts, but the top-stitched pinch gives both versions a more tailored, almost architectural quality. It works particularly well with heavier fabrics and in rooms that want the structure of a pinch pleat with a more modern finish.
It's a heading that tends to stop people in the room and make them ask what it is — which is usually a good sign.
Like all proper pinch pleat headings, euro pleat is hand-formed and stitched — it can't be replicated by tape. And like regular pinch pleat, we always use a substantial buckram to ensure the heading holds its shape and the curtain hangs as it should.
There's another advantage to hand-made pinch pleat that rarely gets talked about but is immediately visible once you know to look for it: seam placement. When curtains are made by hand, the maker can position each pleat deliberately — which means any fabric joins can be hidden at the back of a pleat, completely out of sight. On a ready-made or tape-produced curtain, the spacing is calculated by a machine with no knowledge of where the fabric seams fall. The result is seams appearing wherever the computer puts them — sometimes right in the middle of a pleat, in full view, all the time. On a properly made curtain you will never notice a seam. On a cheap one, you often will.
Best for: Formal living rooms and dining rooms, period properties, tall windows, anyone who wants curtains that are clearly and properly made. Triple pinch pleat suits grand, traditional spaces; euro pleat suits those who want the craft and structure of a pinch pleat with a more contemporary edge.
Wave
The contemporary choice — and, right now, the one we're specifying most often.
Wave heading uses a specialist tape and a dedicated wave track to create a continuous, even S-curve ripple across the top of the curtain. There are no individual pleats and no gathering — just a clean, uninterrupted flow of fabric from one end of the window to the other. It's particularly well suited to wide-width fabrics and voiles, where the seamless flow of the wave really comes into its own.
The result is calm, sculptural and very much of the moment. Where pinch pleat is structured and traditional, wave is architectural and modern. It works beautifully in contemporary homes, open-plan spaces and rooms with large expanses of glazing — particularly where you want the curtains to feel like a considered design element rather than simply a window covering.
The curtains hang from gliders underneath the track rather than in front of it — which makes wave an excellent choice for feature tracks. A beautifully specified wooden tracked pole combined with the clean drape of a wave heading is a pairing that's very much on trend right now: the warmth of natural wood with the discipline of a contemporary heading.
60mm or 80mm — does it matter?
Wave tracks come in two glider spacings: 60mm and 80mm. The spacing determines the depth and frequency of the wave.
80mm gives deeper, more defined waves with fewer folds — it's the most popular choice and the one we use most. It also has a more compact stack-back when the curtains are open as the waves are deeper.
60mm creates shallower, more frequent waves - a subtler, more restrained effect. It requires less recess depth front to back (120mm versus 160mm for 80mm), which can make it the right call in a shallow bay or tight reveal. The trade-off is a slightly larger stack-back.
Wave heading only works on a wave-specific track — it won't work on a standard pole or a conventional track. If you have an existing pole you love, wave may not be the right fit. If you're starting fresh, it's well worth considering.
Best for: Modern and contemporary interiors, open-plan spaces, wide windows, voiles and wide-width fabrics, anyone who wants a clean and design-led look — and anyone with a beautiful feature track they want to show off.
Eyelet
Eyelet curtains have metal rings punched directly into the fabric at the top, through which the pole threads. The fabric falls in large, rounded loops between each ring — a look that was genuinely fresh and contemporary when it emerged, and which you'll still find in plenty of homes today.
The practical reality is that eyelets come with more complications than they appear to. Because the rings fit directly over the pole, they can be problematic in bay windows where the pole bends or joins at an angle — the rings simply won't travel around a corner. And the fit between ring and pole matters more than most people realise. The eyelet diameter needs to be properly matched to the pole diameter — not approximately right, precisely right. Thread an eyelet over a pole that's even slightly too large and the rings will never move freely.
When eyelets are specified correctly; the right ring on the the right diameter pole, they work perfectly well. When they're not, the frustration is entirely avoidable.
The bigger question is whether the look still feels right. Eyelets had a strong moment, and that moment has largely passed. Wave does everything eyelet was trying to do, and does it better.
Best for: Those who know the look well, have specified it correctly before, and want to stay with it. For most contemporary homes today, there are heading styles that will serve you better.
So — Which One?
It depends on the room, the window, the fabric and what you're trying to achieve. But here are a few useful starting points.
If you want your curtains to look properly made and to hold their shape over time — pinch pleat, almost certainly. Triple for something formal and full, double or single for something slightly more contemporary.
If you want something clean, modern and architectural — wave, on a wave track.
If the room is relaxed and informal and softness matters more than structure — pencil pleat, in the right fabric.
If you're set on eyelets — make sure the ring and pole are correctly matched, and that your window isn't a bay (unless you want to stack in each angle). But do also consider whether wave might give you everything you were hoping for, and more.
One thing worth saying: tape-based headings are not automatically equivalent to a properly structured one. Modern tapes are clever and convenient, and we use them regularly - in the right situation they're genuinely useful and practical. A good tape in the right fabric, in the right room, does exactly what it needs to do but a tape trying to recreate a triple pleat is going to be skimpy, irregular and a totally different look. Under a pelmet, where the heading is hidden entirely, tape makes complete sense - the structure is provided by the pelmet itself. But the best curtains we make are the ones where the heading has been properly thought through and executed, not approximated quickly. That difference is visible every time you walk into the room. And pelmets, for what it's worth, that's another blog post.
What Are Curtain Headings Called in America and Europe?
If you've been researching curtains online and found yourself reading American interiors content - or down a Pinterest rabbit hole at midnight - you may have come across different names for the same things.
In the US, pinch pleat is the same as here, though French pleat is widely used where we'd say triple pinch pleat. Euro pleat is also common in American interior design, sometimes called inverted pleat depending on the maker. Pencil pleat is less common in American homes and is sometimes referred to simply as a gathered heading. Grommet curtains are what we call eyelets - same ring, different word. And ripple fold is the American term for what we call wave.
In Europe and Scandinavia, tab top curtains - a simple loop of fabric over the pole - are more commonly seen than in the UK, particularly in minimalist interiors. The underlying heading styles are broadly the same, though the proportion and formality of pinch pleat tends to vary by country.
None of it changes how the heading works , but if you've emerged from an American Pinterest session convinced you need a French pleat ripple fold grommet situation, what you're probably after is a triple pinch pleat, a wave track, eyelets and a good night's sleep!
A Few More Worth Knowing About
We haven't covered everything here. Goblet pleat, cartridge pleat, flat pleat, inverted pleat and slot top are all heading styles we work with — some traditional, some contemporary, some that go by completely different names depending on which side of the Atlantic you're on. If you've seen something you like and aren't sure what it's called, bring it to us and we'll work it out together.
Ready to See Them in Context?
Our Room Story design planner includes examples of different heading styles across different room types - useful if you're in the early stages and want to get a feel for what suits your space before committing to anything.
If you'd like to talk it through in person, we offer home visits across Hertfordshire and North London. We'll bring fabric samples, look at the window with you and give you a clear steer on which heading will work best and why. All measuring, making and fitting is included as standard, so from the first visit through to the finished curtain, it's all taken care of. If you are further away, please feel free to call as we love to work with home-owners who love and care about their interiors.
