Advanced options
Made-to-measure prices shock because you're buying fabric by the METRE at 2-2.5x fullness (a 2m window wants 4-5m of fabric, plus lining, plus a workroom's labour): the fabric choice, not the making, is where quotes triple. The cheat codes: ready-made premium curtains shortened by a local alterations shop (GBP 25-40) deliver 80% of the bespoke look for a third of the price: and thermal/blackout linings do more for sleep and heat than any fabric upgrade: line the cheap fabric before buying the dear one.
What The Curtains Cost Calculator Works Out
- Estimated cost: the number of windows multiplied by the per-window price for your route plus poles, tracks and fitting. High-street ready-mades cost about GBP 70 a window, premium ready-mades altered GBP 160, made-to-measure in mid fabric GBP 380 and designer cloth GBP 750-plus, with GBP 45 a window for a pole and fitting on top.
- Where made-to-measure money goes: fabric is bought by the metre at 2-2.5x fullness, so a 2m window consumes 4-5m of cloth at GBP 20-80-plus a metre, plus lining at GBP 8-15 a metre and a workroom making charge of GBP 80-150 a pair that barely moves. Halve the fabric price and you nearly halve the window.
- Spending it smartly: bespoke for guest-visible rooms and awkward openings (bays, extra drops, patio doors), ready-made plus a GBP 25-40 alteration everywhere else. Poles set wider and higher than the frame let curtains stack off the glass for free.
- Track width and fullness (advanced): the width the curtains have to cover and the fullness multiple the heading needs: eyelets and wave headings work at 2x, pencil pleat wants 2.25-2.5x. The fabric card shows the metres per window and for the whole job.
- Fabric and lining price per metre (advanced): plain cottons and linens run GBP 20-40 a metre, printed and woven designs GBP 40-80, designer houses GBP 80-150-plus; standard cotton sateen lining is GBP 8-15 and blackout or thermal lining GBP 12-20. Pattern repeats on bold prints add metres you pay for but do not see.
- Workroom making per pair (advanced): the labour for cutting, lining and heading a pair, typically GBP 80-150 and almost fixed whatever the fabric costs, which is why the fabric book rather than the workroom is where a quote is negotiated.
- Bespoke estimate per window and for the whole job (advanced): metres x (fabric + lining) plus making plus pole and fitting, built from your own numbers, and the difference against the route you chose above. It shows whether a mid-fabric bespoke quote is fair or padded.
- Blackout/thermal lining or alterations per window (advanced): an upgraded lining, a shortening at the alterations shop or interlining, added per window. Thermal and blackout linings do more for sleep, draughts and a single-glazed room's heat than any fabric upgrade.
- All-in per window (advanced): the full estimate including every extra divided by the windows, the figure to compare against a shutters or blinds quote for the same glass.