Easy Sew Pleats and Gathers

Rod Pocket Panels can be converted to pleats or gathers another way. This one is for those of you with access to a sewing machine and really basic sewing skills.

At the Fabric Store, ask for pleating tape or shirring (gathering) tape. Then have them show you the appropriate hooks to go with the tape. They will advise you as to how many you should need.

Pleating tape is a heavy tape with pockets for hooks in it, that you simply stitch across the top, back side of your panel and insert the 4 prong hooks that create the pleats. The only downside to this tape is that is rather heavy and not really suitable for sheers and some semi sheers.

• NOTE: This is really easy but there are two mistake that you can make. The pockets for the hook prongs are clearly marked. The pockets are closed at the top and open at the bottom to slide in the hooks. It is really easy to sew the tape down with the pocket opening facing the wrong way. The closed part of the pocket goes at the top of the curtain and the open end of the pocket faces the bottom of the curtain.
• Also, count the pockets across the curtain, 1,2,3,4 (this makes a pleat) skip two (this makes the space between the pleats), repeat,  1,2,3,4 skip two all the way along the tape, and see if it come out evenly and you do not have a half a pleat left over at the end. If it is not working out try skip 1 or skip 3 (make the space between the pleat larger or smaller).

Shirring tape is a heavy tape with strings in it that you pull to gather the curtain to the correct width and fullness. You then have a sort of ‘smocked’ look to the top of your curtains. You insert the hooks in the pockets in the tape and then hang below your rod. This way you have a gathered look but the curtains are hung on rings below the rod rather than over the rod in the traditional manner. This looks really good. The tape comes in a number of widths. The wider the tape, the more gathering strings and the nicer the finished look. Again, the downside is that the wide tape is really heavy and not very suitable for sheer fabrics but works well with any fabric that is opaque and has some body to it. The narrow tape with only 2 gathering strings will work on very lightweight fabrics though, just not really sheer ones because it shows through too much.

Pleating and Shirring tape is an easy way to make inexpensive (or even expensive) flat panels into panels that can be hung on rings below the decorative rods that are so fashionable right now.

Also NOTE: There are different kinds of hooks for different uses. When you are hanging your draperies BELOW the rod you have to buy the kind of hooks with the hook part at the top of the hook not in the middle of the hook. The ones with the hook in the middle of the whole hook are used when you want to cover the track with the pleated part of the curtain such as a traditional I beam rod or traverse rod. These are not decorative rods and are meant to be hidden by the drapery. See Picture

Also see: Easy Drapery Project, & Turn Rod Pocket Panels into Real Pinch Pleats & Solving Ready Made Drapery Panel Problems