1. You need to use drapery pins whether on a traverse rod or on rings.

2. Nix the grommet idea. They'll just get ruined and it would be easier to start from scratch if you want grommets. You also won't be able to steam out the pleats.

3. They look to be too short. You'll need to lower the rod.

I use rings on my pinch pleated drapes. No pins. One ring per pleat.

I got the rings at Walmart. It makes the drapes so easy to open and close. I didn't want to change the rods. I change these winter drapes out with lightweight shears in the summer.

thanks. I have all the pins, they were in the draperies when I picked them up. it was from someone that just moved into a large house last month and she decided the color didn't go with grey she wanted to paint the rooms. they fit the front windows and the window in the 18ft foyer. the dining room window never fit standard curtain lengths. she gave me 8 panels and at most I only need 6, 1 panel in each of the living room windows since they aren't wide enough for 2 panels each. I thought about using 1 panel for material purposes and match the pattern and cut and sew it along the bottom to extend it. a friend of mine sews curtains and drapes so she might give me ideas on it. I didn't mention to her yet that I just got these 2 days ago. These are so well made and were made specifically for the house they came from, easily a few thousand for material, hardware, sewing them and the installation. what I paid for them is the cost of hardware for 1 window alone. Going to make this work somehow :-)
I already have sheers from my previous curtains.

this is what they looked like in the previous house by the former homeowner

Use the drapery hooks (pins) with rings if you plan to operate the draperies - just hook the drapery hook into the loop on the ring. Using the clips, sometimes you can tug the drape out of the clip.

I do agree they appear too short as hung - they should kiss the floor or be a hair above it, not several inches from the floor.

nothing I can do about the length unless I find a way to extend them. I can't afford a few thousand for new drapes to be made. I had swags since 1995 and sheers until now.

I have 2 dogs so especially in my family room, having drapes to the floor would mean dog hair constantly when they walk behind out chairs they do all the time. The same thing happened when we used to have cats along with dogs.

If you buy the rings like functionthenlook they’ll drop about 2 inches..they’ll be lower to the floor but not on the floor catching animals hair

thanks Lisa, I was thinking the same thing about slightly lower. I was hoping to bring the drapes at least in the dining room higher to the ceiling just about 2 inches below the crown mouldings but that would make it shorter. the front of the house, all 6 windows on the 1st floor have circle top windows. so can't raise it higher.
here is a photo of the front of my house a few years ago
we still have to replace all 3 of our 25yo external doors, front, side and back kitchen door and 2 single windows and 1 triple window. That's part of why I can't justify spending outrageous amount of money on drapes too.

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the chandelier I posted from the dining room I bought 1996. by the year 2000 I bought the 12 shades to create a different style. now I'm wondering if I should have my husband take it down so I can take it outside to spray paint it oil rubbed bronze and also purchase curtain rings and rods in ORB. all the hardware on my kitchen cabinets, new lights and faucets from early 2018 are all ORB.
here is a chandelier I spotted on houzz that showed me how shades would look good with darker bronze instead of shiny brass

The center part though and yu have brass wall sconces near the window. Picture isn’t here of orb chandelier. Who says everything has to be orb? It’s whichever you like in the dining room

I would not mess with the top header. Rings will extend the length of the drape. Since these are custom drapes, there should be a 6-8 inch hem so you could lengthen. Be aware that the old stitching line may be noticeable.

Length is key to them looking good. If they don’t kiss the floor, they just won’t look right.

Diyer, I'm with you. I don't like my drapes touching the floor. I find it is a pain vacuuming and cleaning the floors when the drapes touch the floor. I prefer mine to be a few inches above . Touching the top of the baseboard. My drape rods are hung so the average 84 in drape don't touch the floor.

thanks function then look. even the longer than 84 standard size ends up way too tall for my 9 foot ceilings. I just looked and the crown moulding and the extension woodwork below it goes 1 inch before to where the old curtain hardware is. we are replacing the short baseboards and using the 5 inch height like we did in the kitchen 2 years ago.

thanks "ratherbesewing" I forgot to think about letting out the hem. Going to go check now

ok, the hem is about 6 1/2" wonder if i could take the hem out completely and use the extra material she gave me to use for the back of the hem and have the stitching at the bottom of the fold where it won't be seen. It will be extra work, but it's just for one window with t panels

thanks clt3 I'll wait to take the hem out when I get the rods. The hardware she gave me is Graber for the pinch pleats and the pull rods, but don't think I will use it if I decide to use rings with the pleats.

@ Lisa Dipiro I'm not sure if I'll still use the wall sconces. I bought them probably 1997ish.

Just trying to create a room that looks different that what I had since 1995. The door handles, front, back kitchen are all ORB. I intend to get new hinges in ORB for the front door once we replace it (in dire need of a replacement for repair reasons) Some of the brass seems to be wearing down a bit, even on the chandelier

Personally, I don't like to see the clips. I prefer the hooks to attach to the bottom of the rings.

Like this picture. So make sure you have all of the hardware and rods before you decide exactly how high to mount them and how much to add to the hem. I can't find a good picture to attach, but google pinch pleated draperies on rings.

I think the ones I spotted online hooked within the pleats so they didn't show. I'll go check your photo

good idea clt3 :)

I just temporarily hung one drapery panel on my one living room window. It's a lot longer on the front windows than I thought. It's also a couple inches short on width. I could either just hem them, or cut the pleats off so 2 panels fit better. the material is perfect and looks almost brand new with not even a speck of dust anywhere. something tells me the previous owner of the house before they put it up for sale had them dry cleaned.

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Hemming is much easier compared to hurting off the top section and re-pleating IMHO. I am not sure what you mean by the drapes being not wide enough? Also, I would consider not using the tie backs. They are a more old fashioned look. The more current look would be for the panels to hang straight down"

oh, I meant cutting the pleat off and folding over to sew and create the space where a rod would slip through. so I would sew 2 lines of stitches leaving I guess an inch up top that would create a ruffle. I wonder since the open living/ dining room is 30 feet long if having the same material drapes but dining room with pleats (1 double window) and living room (2 single windows) rid pockets?

if the panels hang straight down. then it blocks all light. I took the sheets off last night and washed them but wondering if I should get sheer shades instead. The front of the house is shady so need more natural light which is why I used sheer curtains in the front of the house with all 9 single window in the front of the house. why is it that dressing windows and choosing options is always so stressful lol

what I meant by not wide enough was the top of the pinched drape doesn't go the full width from about an inch left of the wood trim around the window to the same on the right. Right now the single panel drape just barely touches the left trim and is about 2 inches from reaching the right end of the window.

I'll have to use nice rods since I will be using the rings and the rods will be seen and not the traverse rods that came with them. The reason I couldn't pass these up was they were so well made and color was perfect. The woman that sold them to me had just moved into the house on December. So she didn't actually pay for the drapes and why selling 8 gold pleated panels and 2 gold slightly different material and all the hardware for $75
After I picked them up I started to see others on Facebook Marketplace selling drapes for close to $75 a panel and not even a color that went with my walls. I like to have drapes that match the wall color by being a shade or 2 off rather than completely contrasting. I did the same in my small 11x12 study and it helped make the room look larger

if the panels hang straight down. then it blocks all light

Then the rod needs to be extended out further.

I'm still not quite following about the width not being enough. If it's to do with the panels blocking light, then again, the rod needs to be farther out. If the rod is not wide enough, you need another rod.

If you decide the make rodpockets, leave the header/ruffle off. Right now they're in style without it and don't make the pocket too small. Looser is nicer.

thanks, didn't know the ruffle part I've seen for a long time was out of style since last I bought drapes was 5 years ago for my family room.

If I use the pleated. 1 panel per single window on the living room windows, the width of the panel is 2 to 3 inches short on the width of the window
I'm pretty sure I can't extend the width using 2 panels because it won't match the end width of the circle top windows on the fronts of all 1st floor windows.
I'll post the photo of the 18ft foyer window in the next post

ok, here is the foyer window. it doesn't have a circle top window. I still have to take off the border at the top and paint the upper wall of the foyer. I can paint the lower half myself. I was able to climb a 16ft ladder, paint the ceiling and wall and put the paper border on the the 18ft wall :-O myself in 1997 when I was in my 40"s
Now that I'm 65 lol, I don't think I can do the upper half of the room myself.

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I think on the foyer window I can extend 2 panels on either side to give the illusion the window is wider. not sure what to do on the length for the foyer window.
I hope to have someone install a motorized option for lowering our foyer chandelier so we can clean it annually ourself rather than bringing in our 12ft ladder and my husband climbing up to clean it that he hasn't been able to do for at least 3 years.
hoping the price will be reasonable. otherwise I'll have to pay someone to clean it

Okay, I see what you're talking about now. You really need two panels on a window. One just doesn't work and isn't the right way to do it. The nicest look is for the rod to be over the arch (what you're calling circle top), rather than under and two panels on a window with a wider rod.

I think a nice shade or blind would look much better on the small, high foyer window.

I don't really want to cover the arch window. That is where we get light even when drapes or shades are shut on the lower half. I did think about a sheer shade in the foyer, but haven't looked yet to what is available. There is a place online I've been buying my my Cellular shades "top up bottom down option" for my kitchen, family room, master bedroom and bath https://www.blinds.com/c/cellular-shades/34  They also have shear shades but don't know which I'll choose. I might also get the shear shades for the dining room and living room eventually. Whatever I do as far as shades for the living room, I have to do the same for the study across from it since it all shows on the front of the house. Trying to look consistent on the outside.

The dining room double window in the back of the house along with the Family room triple window are box bay windows

ok, I see what you mean. I created an idea book with ones I found on Houzz.

My only problem is I don't want to cover the small wall between the 2 windows. I have a 1913 antique large oval painting of my Grandfather that died in 1917 in that spot and it's the only place in the house that painting fits a space and the decor. I'll have to measure to wee how I can work it out.

https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/131218341/list/living-room-arch-windows

Diyer. I think first you need a chunkier rod to put the drapes on that fit into those decorative things on the side of the window (don’t know name of them)—something decorative ....so when the curtains are open you can see it. I think if it’s open during the day pull over and tie back like in the picture.. at nite un tie it it looks like it’ll cover the window—-
my slim windows on either side of my fireplace have those different windows up top, and each window has only one panel....but i see the whole wall, windows and fireplace as one unit.. i just pull open, pull closed when i want.. one panel on each window. Close them when sun is on my face. I like the way it looks.

yes, I know :-) that is my old rod from 23 years ago. I just used it to judge the length. I'm ordering some tonight on Amazon Nice windows on either side of your fireplace. we almost got those when the house was built 1994. I'm glad we didn't only because after living here we realized that side of the house gets strong winds during any storms.

oh, I forget what those things are called to lol. I'm too tired to think. I'm probably taking those down. the only windows I have them on are the living and dining room. Guessing nobody uses those anymore.

the drapery rods and rings came in yesterday. I put the rings on one of the panels and at least put the rod up on what I had previously. That gives me more of a better idea how they will hang.
I'll hang them higher when my husband can help me
I attached 2 quick photos, lighting is bad, nothing I could do

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Fabric Dining Chair · More Info

nice

nice

I just realized I purchased the 2" rings and should have purchased the 1 1/2" rings. Going to exchange them and the new ones will probably arrive tomorrow. I only opened one package of 14, so I could just tape it back up. I searched for actual traverse rods with thicker rings and found out each rod was $200, yikes. So just going with the rod and rings for all 6 of my 1st floor windows and it was under $200