It is the first question everyone wants to ask and the one the industry answers worst. So here is a straight answer: made to measure curtains in a mid range fabric for a standard window, fully made, lined and fitted, typically start from a few hundred pounds a pair. A large bay in a premium interlined fabric can run to four figures. Almost everything sits between those points, and the difference comes down to five things.
The five things that drive the price
1. Fabric
Fabric is usually the largest single cost. Quality furnishing fabrics range from roughly £20 to well over £100 per metre, and a generous pair of curtains can need eight to fifteen metres or more once fullness and pattern repeats are allowed for. A large pattern repeat quietly increases the meterage needed to match across widths, which is why two fabrics at the same price per metre can produce quite different quotations.
2. Window size and drop
Wider windows need more fabric widths joined and matched; longer drops need more metres per width. Floor length curtains cost more than sill length, and they are almost always worth it, because they finish a room in a way short curtains cannot.
3. Heading style
Gathered pencil pleat headings are the most economical. Hand pinched pleats, goblets and wave headings take more skill, more time and often more fabric, and they are where handmade making visibly outclasses factory work.
4. Lining
Standard cotton lining is included in any proper quotation. Blackout lining adds a little. Interlining, the soft padded layer that gives curtains their luxurious weight and real thermal value, adds more, in both material and hours of hand sewing, and transforms the result.
5. Making and fitting
The making is the craft: cutting true, matching patterns, hand sewing hems and headings, and finishing so the curtain hangs dead straight for years. Fitting includes tracks, poles or bay tracks, measured and installed properly. Beware quotations that are vague about either.
Where to save, and where never to
Save on fabric price per metre if you must; there are beautiful fabrics at sensible prices, and a good maker will show you them without being asked. Save by choosing a blind instead of curtains for smaller windows, since roman blinds use far less fabric. Never save on making quality or measuring, because a beautiful fabric badly made hangs badly forever, while a modest fabric beautifully made looks quietly expensive for a decade.
What a proper quotation looks like
A written quotation should itemise fabric, making, lining, tracks or poles, and fitting, so you can see exactly where the money goes and adjust intelligently. That is how every Casa by Joanna quotation is prepared, after a free home visit, with no obligation attached.