I'm with you, I think both ends (inside and out) need to be folded back

I'd add a drapery wand for easy open and close.

That extra flap is usually meant to be used to take care of the distance the drapery rod is from the wall. Draperies should clear the window frame and sill. Is your rod far enough out from the wall that the draperies hang free? If so, then the solution is to somehow fold back the extra panel or have it removed and the sides rehemmed.

I also wonder if perhaps the panels aren't symmetric and that these (longer?) end pieces should be in the middle to have better coverage when the drapes are closed.

I am not a drapery expert, however I have sewn a lot of drapes. It seems like quite a big allowance was left for the front overlap of the curtains (I just read that it is usually around 4 cm for each panel) . You can buy special ”overlap” curtain glide ring things which have a bend in them which allows the curtains to overlap each other in the middle (instead of the panels abutting each other) when closed. I’ll try and find a picture. It also appears that your rod is ceiling mounted, therefore you would not actually need the extra unpleated amount that they allowed for on each outer side of the panels. It probably would have looked better had some of that extra material been calculated into the pleats. Assuming these fit your window exactly then there is not much you can do to them without taking out the pleats and redoing the curtains. Were these custom drapes? I would think that if they were, they would have taken your rod type into account. Nice curtains though!

This is only an example of what I mean for the middle closures - it is not the correct one

It seems that the workroom didn't know you were planning to hang the curtains by a ceiling track as the extra fabric on the outside edges is for the "return" (to bridge the space between a wall mounted rod and the wall). It takes a lot of yardage per pleat, so there's not enough fabric in those outer edges to create another pleat. If you switch to a wall mounted rod, the outer edges will properly function as a "return" and you may like the look better. That said, the average person won't notice anything but beautiful drapes if you don't say anything about it.

Probably not many other people are going to be in your bedroom to see them unless this is the guest room. I don't think you can get another pleat out of the excess fabric, but you may be able to fold and tack it back to the pleat beside it and eliminate the look you don't like. I agree that the rod is not the standard wall mount that would require the excess fabric to return to the wall and hang from the return part of the rod mount.

Yes, the rod is hung from the ceiling, however it clears the wall by about 3 inches. The fabric and the rod are custom, and there is a hidden rod to open and close the drapes. You all are right, I didn't realize what a return was, and the installer is still learning the ropes I think.

Yvonne, you're right, I think the sides with the extra fabric are meant to overlap in the middle, but there's still too much fabric for that, and the "tab" look would remain in the center when the drapes are open. (When closed, they look wonderful!)

I'm going to ask the installer to return the fabric to the wall since we have the clearance. It will mean that the drapes won't reach the end of the rod (on the outside- not the middle), but so be it. The rod's length cannot be changed.

Thanks for the photo Gargamel!