How to Sew Café Curtains (Triple Pleat)

Here is how to measure for café curtains and determine how much fabric you need. I’ll walk you through with an example of a 40-inch-wide window opening.

Note: If you have a patterned fabric, you’ll likely need to order a bit more for pattern matching. The bigger the pattern the more extra fabric you will need. This fabric is from Fashion Fabrics Club (cotton sateen).

Get curtain pleat tape and pronged hooks that insert into the pleat tape (this is the one I used). You can get pronged hooks with 4 prongs that make a triple pleat, 2 prongs for a single pleat, and 1 prong for no pleats (use 3 prongs on the 4-pronged hook for a double pleat).

Are you making a single curtain or two curtains that open? Most likely you’ll be making two, so that’s how I will frame the example. We need two 20-inch panels to fit in the 40-inch opening. The panels can be a little larger if you want to guarantee no gaps on the sides and middle. In that case, maybe go for 22-inch panels.

The prong placement and frequency with also play a huge role in how wide your panel ends up. It’s kind of the boss. Ha! So I insert all my curtain prong hooks into the pleat tape until I reach my desired width of the panel. Add your desired side hem allowance to the pleat tape as well. For our example let’s add a ½ inch to each side for a ½ inch side hem. Cut the pleat tape and remove the hooks. This length of pleat tape, plus another ½”, is your fabric panel width.

To find the length of fabric needed you’ll hang the curtain rod and rings, insert the hooks with the pleat tape on the hook, and measure from the top of the pleat tape to the window sill or desired length. That is the finished curtain length. Add seam allowance for the top (1/2 inch) and hem allowance plus a quarter inch for turning in the hem.