Tutorial: Pinch Pleated Drapes

Let me start by saying these were SO much easier than I thought they’d be!

Start by cutting your lining 2” narrower than your main fabric. Lay…

Now you have an open ended tube.  Turn right side out and lay flat, lining side up and center the lining.  1” of your main fabric should be visible on either side.  Press.

Fold over and press 3 1/4” at the top of the panel {the pleat tape will lay over this}.  Then tuck under the corner.

Turn under the edge of the pleat tape 1/2” and pin to your panel.  Sew along the sides and top and bottom guides to attach the pleat tape to your panel.

There are different types of pleat tape.  Make sure you get the one with pockets.  It also has a sewing guideline for attaching to your panel.

I purchased my pleat tape and 4 pronged hooks at my local upholstery shop.  The bag of hooks came with 4 additional single pronged hooks for the far sides of the panels {see bottom right photo}.  A hook goes in every other pocket which creates a perfect triple pleat!

At the far ends of my panel is a single hook, then six 4 pronged hooks.  I used a distance of 5” between each hook and started my first pleat 3” from each side.  It took a bit of trial and error to figure this out.  Fortunately the hooks are easy to take out.

Now that the pleats are finished, hang your drapes to determine the bottom hem.  It’s hard to see, but in the photo below, I’ve lined the crease with straight pins so that when I remove the drapes I can easily see where I want my hem length to be.  I used a 3” double hem {turn up 3”, press, turn up 3” again, sew}. 
Most tutorials will tell you to hem the bottom before the top.  I can’t figure out why – I feel it adds too much room for error with the length.

There you have it!  Incredibly easy pinch pleat drapes!  I haven’t completely finished my second panel, so I’ll show you the finished product later this week.