Eyelet Curtains

What an eyelet heading is

An eyelet curtain has metal rings punched through a reinforced band along the top edge. The pole passes through the rings, and that is the whole mechanism: no hooks, no tape, no track. In the United States the same heading is sold as a grommet curtain, and the two words describe an identical thing.

Because the rings sit at fixed intervals, the fabric between them falls into a regular wave that repeats the whole way along the pole. That is the visual difference from every other heading. A pencil pleat gathers softly and slightly unevenly; an eyelet curtain is rhythmic, and it reads as the more modern of the two.

Hanging them, and what pole you need

The eyelets on our range are 4cm across, which takes a standard pole up to roughly 3.5cm in diameter. Measure the pole itself rather than the finial, since the decorative end is almost always wider than the shaft it sits on. If the pole is too thick the rings will not pass; if it is much too thin the waves lose their shape and the curtain slides too freely.

Hanging is a two-minute job. Take the finial off one end, thread the rings on, put the finial back. There is nothing to adjust afterwards, which is the practical argument for this heading over any other. It is also why eyelet suits a room where the curtains come down for washing more often than most.

Choosing the right width

Each size we list is the width of one curtain and every size is sold as a pair. A pair at 168cm x 183cm is two curtains of 168cm, giving 336cm of fabric across the window. Set against a 200cm pole that is a fullness of about one and a half times, which is the standard for a well-hung pair.

Go wider if you want a fuller, more generous look, or if the curtains will sit open against the wall for most of the day and you want them to read as substantial rather than thin. Go narrower only if the window is genuinely small, since a curtain without enough surplus hangs flat and looks like a panel rather than a curtain.

Lining, light and warmth

Most pairs in this range are lined. The second layer gives the curtain the weight it needs to hang in a straight fall from the rings, which matters more on an eyelet heading than on any other, since the waves depend on the fabric having body. An unlined eyelet curtain tends to flare at the hem and lose its shape.

Lining also slows heat escaping through the glass on a cold night, and shields the face fabric from the sunlight that fades a curtain over a few summers. It filters daylight rather than blocking it. Where a pair is also room-darkening, its product page says so; where a page does not say so, the pair is lined but not blackout, and a bedroom that needs true darkness wants a blackout lining instead.

Care and everyday upkeep

Most lined curtains need dry cleaning. The face fabric and the lining shrink at different rates in a hot wash, and once they have, the curtain hangs unevenly and nothing brings it back. Each product page carries the supplier's own care instructions and those are the ones to follow.

In between, vacuum them with an upholstery attachment on a low setting, working downwards from the eyelets. It takes a few minutes, it removes most of what would otherwise need cleaning out, and it noticeably extends the time between visits to the dry cleaner. Draw the pair fully open during the day so the fabric is not held in the same fold for months at a time.