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kimiko232_gw

Pottery Barn linen drapes = pathetic (need to vent)

17 years ago

Hi All,

I just don't know what I was thinking. I picked up this really nice fabric it's a silk/linen blend for some drapes. I love the material, but it was the end of the bolt. So, you know how that goes. I bought it anyway thinking I could find something similar. Well, I couldn't. On a whim, I decided to order a sample of the peyton linen drapes from Pottery barn. Suprise, the color is right. Though, definitely not the same texture or hand.

So, I decide to bite the bullet and order two 84x100 panels and two 84x50. Enough to do two patio doors and ajoining windows. I don't like the look of them that much. But, I thought I could live with it. And, they would go with what I had already made for the family room.

Even though they were really uneven. Was going for a relaxed beachy theme.

Well, last week I decided to redo my panels into pinch pleats. My drapes turned out just fine. :) Those pottery barn ones... crap.

EVERY single panel is a different length. When I measured them, they vary from over four inches to one inch from the 84 length in one panel. I'm fine with the 85 length as it hits the floor just right. But, come on. 88 inch, 85 inch, 83 inch, 86 inch... all in one panel??? And, they hang just awful. I'm having to actually rip them apart and then resew each panel. To get the right thickness, I had to add the two extra panels on to each of the large panels to pinch pleat. I was just blown away that I would be doing all this work. I'm just pinch pleating, not doing rocket science!

Now, I know they aren't super expensive. But, I was thinking they were good quality. They are almost 200 dollars a xl panel. What a waste of time and money.

I should just start all over with a different fabric and be done with the whole thing. I so hate the PB ones that I'm sick of the nicer ones. So, if you're planning on getting those peyton linen drapes... think long and hard about it! Well, just don't think you can quickly refigure them into pinch pleats. :) (I know most people won't do it, but I'm nuts.)

Kim

Comments (36)

  • 17 years ago

    I got some PB curtains for my girls' room . . .I returned so many pairs because they were different lengths. I still got PB ones but a different material, so I thought it was just that type. After your post, I'd never get PB again!

  • 17 years ago

    Not expensive?!!! At 200 a panel? With such poor quality control? I'd say those were very expensive drapes, considering the time you had to put in. And there is no excuse for that - Target and Walmart manage to produce panels that are just one length across. You are a very reasonable person, I would have laid the panel out, with measurements and taken pics, then written a letter to PB executives explaining why I and everyone on a nationwide message board for Home Decorating would no longer be shopping at their drapery section....giving them the benefit of the doubt that they just don't know their product is sadly flawed...

    terry, also avoiding PB drapes from now on.

  • 17 years ago

    I feel your pain... had the same experience at JCP. I bought @ 20 panels trying to find eight that were the same length to no avail. Returned them and gave up.

  • 17 years ago

    That is just nuts!

    fwiw, I ordered 18 textured belgian linens panels from Restoration Hardware during a 15 or 20% off coupon sale. Still expensive, but very well made. Lined. Even, Only problem was they all stretched a tad more than anticipated after hanging, so I had to adjust all the hooks again. Not a biggie, imo, just an inconvenience.

    Here is a link that might be useful: RH Belgian Linen panels

  • 17 years ago

    I had that same experience with drapes from Pottery Barn. One panel was way, way shorter than the other three. I was stuck with it.

  • 17 years ago

    If linen drapes act anything like linen clothing, then I'm not surprised that after hanging them for a while they were different lengths. It is why I have a "no linen" policy for clothing. It is too finicky.

  • 17 years ago

    I have owned three sets of linen panels from RH. While the fabric is gorgeous and the colors sublime, the most recent set I bought were also three different lengths. I finally returned them and re-ordered the 96" length. I will be having them hemmed from the top and reinforced with buckram so that I can use pins with them. (They are unlined.)

  • 17 years ago

    I feel your pain! I have had to re-hem all the drapes I have bought from Pottery Barn due to them being ridiculously different lengths. I am about to remake another two sets, including my second set of Peyton linen panels (which are lined - yuck!)

    So why did I still buy more from PB? Because I have been unable to find affordable panels of natural fabrics in colors I want at other stores. I have tried. I did send PB an email of strong complaint. Guess what! No response! I will not be buying from them again!

    The Belgian linen panels I purchased from Restoration Hardware were all exactly the right length - but they were considerably more expensive!

  • 17 years ago

    This is crazy...at 200$/panel I can get custom.

    For those who may be looking, silk trading company is having a drapery sale right now. I have been to every one of their show room in CA and their draperies are always TDF.

    Here is a link that might be useful: silk trading

  • 10 years ago

    Looking for a place to express my opinion of Pottery Barn drapes, I found this set of comments. I purchased Dupioni silk drapes for four sliding glass doors. They arrived severely wrinkled from the way they were packed into plastic envelops. Customer Service at Pottery Barn had no useful suggestions about what to do about these wrinkles. Their main suggestion was to have them drycleaned at my expense. Apart from the expense, the fabric of these drapes is rather flimsy so I suspect that cleaning would result in significant wear. The drapes have been hanging for months and the wrinkles are very much there. I guess if you want rumpled drapes to go with your distressed finish Pottery Barn furniture ...

    In addition, Pottery Barn does not seem to sell appropriate rods for drapes on sliding glass doors (one way draw). I had to look elsewhere for those.

    Pottery Barn does not seem to provide for customer reviews. Given my experience with these drapes, I guess I can see why. At least I did not notice differences in the lengths of the drapes.

  • 10 years ago

    Does anyone know how easy it is to purchase fabric off the bolt, sew a pocket at the top and a hem on the bottom? And that lining can be sewn in at the same time using a narrower fabric? I like a heavier weight upholstery fabric. Will post a pic when I get home.

  • 10 years ago

    Patty, yes. On the last set I made, I didn't even put in a pocket and used clips instead. I wanted a less formal pinch-pleat look but more formal (and moveable) than the rod pocket.

  • 10 years ago

    Sorry you've had such a bad experience with PB drapes. I bought some silk dupioni tie-top drapes (12 panels) and outdoor grommet drapes (4 panels) and I've been nothing but pleased with them. They look great and the outdoor drapes have been great for wash-ability since I have them around my sliding glass door and the dog likes to lean against them and dirty them.

  • 10 years ago

    Yep, same experience. I bought 6 panels of the 50" x 96" PB Emery drapes. Only ONE was actually 96" in my initial order. Customer service was very helpful and kindly exchanged 5 of the panels... but, out of the new 5 panels only TWO were 96". The fabric feel and color is exactly what I need for my space, but I just can't imagine how many more times I'm going to have to re-order.

  • 10 years ago

    Glad I found this thread as I've been considering PB drapes for my new house (actually, 1939, but new to me). I bought PB drapes in 2005 for bedrooms at my previous home and they were lovely and good quality. Guess they've gone inconsistent, likely using multiple sources for their products.


  • 10 years ago

    Wish I had seen this before ordering two sunbrella grommet panels. They were very poorly made, with puckered side hems, uneven bottom hem, and two different lengths, and of course not returnable since they were "custom". Beware!

  • 10 years ago

    Are you sure they aren't returnable because they are defective? I'd sure get assertive about getting my $ back. If pb wont then I'd file a claim with my credit card company.

  • 10 years ago

    Oly is right, that's not custom, that's crap, take those puppies back and if they won't do anything to fix them, call the credit card company and get a refund that way. There is a huge difference between returning something because you don't care for it and returning something because of poor workmanship.

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    I agree with Oly. It's not like you changed your mind about the color. You ordered a specific length and PB didn't deliver.

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    This is why when ordering custom one should use a major credit card. The Credit Card companies I have found more than understanding and willing to return your money and let these charlatans eat their errors. "Custom" means you didn't get what you ordered, how can they think they can make you keep them? Curiously this thread is too old for the original posters to be following it. Unlined linen does not seem appropriate material for curtains if it stretches so..and PB is not a drapery store so why one would make purchases of this sort there is beyond me anyway. Where are the made? When we purchase items made outside the USA we cannot assume ANY quality control or consistency. My experience with JCP decorating dept. causes me to think the experience mentioned was a fluke. Curtain panels are not that difficult to make.

  • 10 years ago

    I ordered 12 panels of Belgian linen Pottery Barn drapes and I am no happy! Each panel is a different length ranging from 81 inches to 85 inches when they are suppose to be 84 inches!

  • 10 years ago

    Same experience here with Pottery Barn! The Restoration Hardware drapes are beautiful, but more expensive. I like plain white linen because of the way the light shines through the weave, and there are some at Target (not lined) that are 54 inches wide and around $24 a panel. You definitely have to get 2 or 3 extra (I needed 6 panels and bought 8 then returned 2) because the lengths are not at all consistent. But for $24? Good enough!

  • 9 years ago

    I also have to vent. I recently purchased 16 panels of the PB linen silk blend drapes expecting the length to be 96 inches (silly me). They are all different lengths varying up to 4 inches. I wish I had done my research and read these reviews prior to my purchase but I expected to receive a PB quality product. Theses drapes are definitely not cheap according to my definition. PB told me this length variation was to be expected and acted as if I was being completely unreasonable to expect the drapes to all be 96 inches in length. They also told me they never received complaints on these drapes. From all these posts I can see that is not true. They told me if the different lengths "bothered me" they would keep ordering until I got 8 the same length. I finally gave up and went to a tailor to have them re-hemmed at my expense. Lesson learned. Buyer beware.

  • 8 years ago
    8 panels with all different lengths. I steamed everything but it just kept the disparity but longer. Some puddle others just miss touching the floor. Rods laser leveled to 1/16 of an inch variation. Frustrating. I will recommend someone from the store come to my house with 10 packs of curtains and have them figure it out.

    Vent #2: The wall anchors slightly show from behind the wall mounts for the smaller sized rods. How is this allowed to go out as a sellable product?
  • 6 years ago

    Returning 4 panels that were ordered 3 times to try and get the same length. Fabric is nice, quality of workmanship was AWFUL. They should be embarrassed to charge $149 per panel. Because they were black out lined, I didn't attempt to repair. Had they not been, I probably would have re-hemmed them myself. I have made many, many curtains and I guess I will be making these too. What a disappointment.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I bought 8 panels of the Emery linen curtains. I have three different shades of the same curtain and all say white with the same item number. I discovered that they had different item numbers so I called PB. They said it looked like they switched item numbers so maybe they switched vendors. He processed an exchange and sent me 5 with the same item number. They still don't match. I'm ready to return them all. And now I need to check the lengths? This is ridiculous.

  • 5 years ago

    Well what do you expect for cheap readymades that are made overseas in factories. They charge way too much for junk.

  • 5 years ago

    Kim. How did you sew in pinch pleats? I'm unhappy with how the panels look using PB wimpy loops...thought they were pleated as they looked in catalog (not)...there's not enough fabric to make std. pinch pleat...do I have to make a new header and then sew pleats? Lived with crappy looking panels (13 of them) fir 4 yrs. Have not bought from PB since then.

  • 4 years ago

    I have been looking at the white linen drapes on their website. Before spending $150/panel which I consider very expensive, I wanted to read reviews. Oddly there are none. So this was helpful. I'll keep looking....

  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    I had a similar problem with the Pottery Barn Emery Linen drapes. I ordered four 96” panels and they were all different lengths. They were even inconsistent from one side to the other on the same panel by as much as 2 inches! Also, the side hems were crooked. Pottery Barn told me I could return them and they don’t usually have this trouble. Don’t think I’m going to take a chance on that. I’ve had much better luck, so far, with Ballard Designs panels.

  • last year
    last modified: last year

    2025 same problem with Pottery Barn drapes. 4 panels all different lengths, and not even consistent lengths within the same panel.

  • last year

    I ordered the linen panels, they were 2 inches different in length so had to wait another few months for the replacements which weren't any better. They look awful. I'm going to have to take them to the tailor to get them evened out. It would have been MUCH cheaper and faster to buy fabric and take it to the tailor. This whole process has already taken about 8 months, what a nightmare.

  • last month

    Hey it's Summer 2026 - I ordered panels in November 2025, this July they finally arrived and are 48.5 inches wide vs. the 50 inches they are supposed to be. Because I had to wait NINE months for the panels to arrive, I had to have the contractor install the rod without the curtain panels. So, I measured for 100 inches and now have 97 inches of curtains. For blackout, every inch matters. Not to mention that there are 10 rings on the rod for each panel and, whoops, the curtain panels only have hanging slots for 9 rings. AARGH. Now I have an extra, empty curtain ring on my brand new window treatment.


    This is the second set I ordered - the store associate ordered for me the first time and the panels were six inches too long. So I brought those back and got put to the back of the line for shipping the replacement panels. I purchased PB because I thought that a large company would make a consistent product. WRONG. Very frustrating. No wonder they don't permit comments about products on any WS brand website. Anyway, just a rant. Good luck to all.

  • last month

    So maddening - agree there is a reason they don’t have reviews. Pillows and throws are the only items I would ever buy from that place and only in-store to make sure they are actually okay quality (otoh i have had great experiences with Ballard Designs)

  • last month

    I also went with Ballard Designs and have had great experiences with them. Here’s what I ordered instead. BALLARD ESSENTIALS PANEL 96IN EVRDY 10oz LINEN WHT