Pics of the velvet wave curtain:

Why are you not asking these questions of the source of the panels?

Where did you purchase these?

Did they arrive with instructions?

Did the seller advise you to steam the panels? Almost all drapery panels require some out of the box TLC to make them look perfect.

Is the velvet fabric polyester? Polyester fabric draperies have a tendency to 'bloom' at the bottom of the panel. In order to hold a pleat they often need to be fan folded, steamed into submission, tied with fabric bands for a few days and then released to fall into a more precise appearance.

https://barnandwillow.com/blogs/barn-willow/how-to-train-your-drapery-pleats-to-lay-properly#:~:text=A%20little%20steam%20can%20go,to%20help%20set%20the%20folds.

First, why are you obliterating a window?

Second, velvet has a nap. When rolled onto a bolt, it requires cardboard cushioning or nap will crush. You can't successfully steam any velvet, let alone polyester.

Ready made is ready made. If you need them trained into submission, you dress the fold and tie them up for a week. But I doubt you will have any luck with polyester, for the same reason polyester doesn't wrinkle: ) unless you don't want it to. Linen would have been a better selection for what you want.

As mentioned, train the drapes Since your drapes are so wide, you may require a friend to assist you. Regarding the velvet (smooth vs crushed look), call or email the retailer for specific instructions. Do NOT iron velvet.

This is the natural drape of that kind of fabric. The top has rings and hardware that holds pleats stacked in place. The bottom does not so it spills. You won't get better from out of the box curtains in this type of fabric. If they looked different in a pic it is due to a stylist or photoshop. The color is lovely and I think they look nice.

From looking at your photos, I don't think the curtains look so bad. Personally I do not care for curtains that are sharply knife pleated all the way down--it's a formal stuffy look. I like more rounded pleats like you have for a more casual look.

You have gotten some excellent advice from the interior designers here.

IMO the wrong fabric for the wave type install but I see nothing horrible about how thay look in the ppicture .All the other issues you seem to have need to be addressed to the place you bought them

Is this a cotton, rayon or polyester fabric?

If you are going to be opening and closing those drapes every day, then they will never have the look of perfectly staged stationary panels.

I agree with Diana. My curtains are white faux silk lined with heavy lining in the living room and pure linen (also heavily lined) in the den. Despite leaving them tied together at the bottom for a week longer than recommended, each of them immediately blllowed out like a skirt and have been that way ever since. (The linen less than the faux silk because the weight, well, weighs the natural fabric downward rather than outward.) But it turns out I love the softer look of both against the harder lines of the white walls and furniture. They really are beautiful!

You could try lightly vacuuming the curtains in one direction to get the nap to align.

@JAN MOYER

How can I know if the nap in my velvet curtains are crushed?

My curtains all go in the same way, the nap goes downward, meaning when I pass my hand from top to bottom the fabric feels smooth.

Curtains were sewn specifically for me, I went to the fabric store and chose the fabric.

Below is the sample that I went with for my velvet curtains.

My only issue is that on the top the velvet looks darker and with a little texture/life, while the other half/bottom of the curtain looks lighter, plain, and with less texture.

Note tho: When I lay on the ground, the curtains look textured, dark, full of life, and exactly the same from top to bottom, so I don't know if it just the standing position and how the light is hitting.

@Aphaea Can you please share pictures of the curtains if possible?

@apple_pie_order 100% Polyester

e98hussein, I will get a neighbor to take pictures for me and send them to me so I can post them here. (My phone does not have internet service so while i can take pictures I have no way to get them onto the computer myself.)

" When I lay on the ground, the curtains look textured, dark, full of life, and exactly the same from top to bottom, so I don't know if it just the standing position and how the light is hitting."

Y.E.S.

The shading is the NAP and the light hitting the face of the curtains over the ling length AND in a different position than flat on the ground. Your answer is a different fabric entirely or accept the nature/properties of the fabric you selected : )

Use 4g or 5 g cellular network and post the fabric from your phone, same way.

Yes, as Jan suggested, you are looking against the nap when you look at the upper part of the drape and with the nap below your eye level.

@JAN MOYER You mean post the fabric laying down?

Here are pictures of the fabric laying down, the color is distorted from the iphone, but as you can see the texture is from top to bottom when I am laying down, it is continuous and cohesive.

Is there any way I can get the bottom half to look like the top half?

For example, would flipping the curtain and making the nap go upward instead of downward help?

@lisaam The curtains got the same nap direction from top to bottom, meaning when I run my hand from top to bottom, the fabric is smooth, so shouldn't I see the texture being continuous from top to bottom, and not just at top?

What is the solution for this issue? Would flipping the curtain and making the nap go upward instead fix it?

You are reinventing a wheel. The solution is curtains from a different fabric altogether. By the time you even attempt what you imagine? You will have MORE money in a re do of these than starting fresh. No workroom will touch the project! Take hems and headers and lining apart!? No way. Stop obsessing and enjoy they look fine, or start over with a fabric that suits the look you want. That is 100% linen or wool. Or a linen with very little polyester/ blend.

It is custom to you, local to you and created by a skilled drapery workroom who will advise fabric, or you get an interior designer who has sources for all the above.

You must stop begging a "non reflective of light" property that exists in all velvet! It is to ask satin to become denim and it will not happen.

You will not get this...........from velvet. Ever. Nor will you get it from panels you intend to move.

It is meant for stationary panels.

@JAN MOYER I actually love the fabric, color, depth, and touch of the curtains. They look so rich and so much better live, pictures aren’t doing them justice, but I just wanna know if I received the curtains damaged or if it’s just actually the nap and how the light is hitting based on the pictures and on what I described

They’re giving such a cozy feel to the room

@Diana Yes you are probably right, thank you !

Then leave the darn things alone, stop obsessing on "are they damaged" ( No ) and which way the light hits them , when and how, and get on with liking what you bought.

Diana is not "probably" right, she IS right. It's love OR hate, not both.

@JAN MOYER Okay I needed to hear that tough advice, so thank you actually, you guys are right. The curtains actually look great, and the pleats are now more cohesive and clean looking in the bottom by the way.

Awesome, enjoy your new room!

In case one would wonder who made "vogue" the idea of a velvet curtain panel? In case one would wonder or imagine the luxurious feel of a gorgeous apartment in the 7th arrondissement, perhaps a view of the Eiffel Tower.......you'd picture RH and their velvet curtain panels.

"Woven by JB Martin, a 200-year-old, family-owned company that specializes in velvet, our drapery offers an ultra-soft hand and rich color with vintage appeal. Crafted of cotton velvet, its rich folds, subtle sheen and complex character confer elegance and sophistication."

You might notice, these marketing geniuses are not forcing a fabric to do that which it will not do. Embrace the luxury or do not. It isn't linen.

Most important, read an entire thread.