Why the Heading Everyone Recognises Costs More Than They Think
Pencil pleat is the heading almost everyone can name, even if they have never thought about curtain headings in their life. It is what comes on ready-made curtains, it is what most people grew up with, and it is the one customers describe to us without knowing the term — they mime a gather along the top with their fingers.
It is also the heading we are asked for least. Annie has not made a pencil pleat curtain in about ten years.
The reason is not what most people assume. Pencil pleat is not the cheap option that fashion left behind. Done properly it costs more than the pinch pleat most people think of as the premium choice, and on the size of windows Perth homes actually have, it comes with some real practical disadvantages. This guide covers what the heading is, why it costs what it does, why it fell out of use, and when it is still the right answer — because occasionally it is.
If you would rather see the full range side by side than one heading in depth, our guide to curtain headings and heading styles covers the wider set.
A pencil pleat gathers the entire width of the curtain into a continuous run of narrow, upright folds — each one roughly the width of a pencil, which is where the name comes from. There are no groups and no flat spaces between them. The gather runs unbroken from one end of the curtain to the other.
That is the fundamental difference from a pleated heading. A pinch pleat collects the fabric into distinct pleats at set intervals, with flat fabric between them, and each pleat is stitched to hold its shape. A pencil pleat does not group the fabric at all. It simply gathers it.
The heading is typically 75mm to 90mm deep and hangs on standard hooks, so it works with ordinary tracks and rods. In ready-made curtains the gather is pulled up with cords in a sewn-on tape, which is why the depth and evenness of the gather in a shop-bought curtain depend entirely on how hard someone pulled the string.
This is the part that surprises almost everyone.
A pencil pleat needs three times the track width in fabric to look right. Below that the gather goes shallow, the folds sit too far apart, and the heading reads as sparse and unfinished rather than soft — the look most people associate with cheap curtains, and the reason the heading has the reputation it has.
For comparison, we cut a triple pinch pleat at 2.5 times the track width and a double at 2.2. So a properly made pencil pleat uses more fabric than the fullest pinch pleat we make.
On a four-metre track that difference is two metres of extra cloth over a triple pinch pleat, and nearly three and a half over a double. In a fabric at the upper end of the range, that is a significant part of the total before any making is counted.
Which produces the odd situation the heading now finds itself in. The version most people have seen — the ready-made, the builder’s special, the curtain that came with the house — is made at well under 3x, which is why it looks the way it does. And the version made properly costs more than the alternative most people would have chosen instead.
The cost is only half the reason it fell out of use here. The other half is Perth’s windows.
Homes here have large windows, and often very wide ones. Put 3x fullness across a wide opening and the curtain becomes genuinely heavy — heavier than the equivalent pinch pleat, because there is simply more fabric in it.
The bigger issue is what happens when you open it. A pleated heading stacks in a structured way: each pleat folds against the next in a repeating rhythm, so the curtain concertinas back into a neat, predictable column. A pencil pleat has no structure to fold along. The gather is continuous, so the fabric bunches rather than folds, and it does not compress as tightly.
The result on a wide window is a stack that is both untidier and wider than you expected, sitting across more of your glass. On a window where the view is the point of the room, that is a real cost.
Cost and stack explain why the trade moved away from it. Taste finished the job.
Pencil pleat is strongly associated with a particular period of Australian interiors, and people know it when they see it. Customers looking at samples in our showroom say it unprompted, almost word for word: “my mum and dad had that.”
That association is not fatal in itself — plenty of traditional treatments have come back. But pencil pleat did not have a strong enough case to come back with. The softer, less formal look it offers can be had from a s-wave heading in a contemporary room or a double pinch pleat in a traditional one, both for less fabric and with better stacking. When a heading costs more, performs worse and carries a dated association, there is not much left to recommend it.
We still make them, and there are situations where nothing else will do.
Matching existing curtains – If a room already has pencil pleat curtains and you are adding to them or replacing one window, matching the heading is usually the only sensible choice.
Heritage and period accuracy – In a heritage house being restored to a particular period, the heading is part of the record. Getting it right matters more than what it costs to make.
Small windows – The stacking problem is a function of width. On a modest window the bunching is not enough to notice, and the soft gather can look charming where a formal pleat would be overworked.
Under a pelmet – A pelmet conceals the heading entirely, which removes the visual objection and leaves only the fabric quantity to consider.
If any of those describe your situation, it is worth having the conversation rather than assuming the heading is off the table.
Pencil pleat suits lighter and mid-weight fabrics — cottons, light linens, anything with enough softness to gather cleanly. Heavy cloth fights the gather and produces a stiff, lumpy heading rather than the even ripple the style depends on.
The rule that matters more than any other: do not compromise on the 3x fullness. A pencil pleat made at 2x in a beautiful fabric will look worse than a pencil pleat made at 2.2 in an ordinary one, because the whole character of the heading is in the density of the gather. If the budget will not carry 3x, the answer is a different heading rather than a thinner pencil pleat.
Our curtain fabrics page covers weight and drape, and it is worth handling a sample hanging rather than flat on a table.
If you are choosing between headings rather than committing to one, the headings and styles guide sets them out together with what each suits.
If pinch pleat is the alternative you are considering, we set the two side by side — fullness, cost, stacking and fabric.
If you have inherited pencil pleat curtains and are deciding whether to match them or start again, bring a photograph and a sample if you have one. The answer usually depends on how many windows are involved and whether the existing curtains are worth keeping.
We sew every curtain in our Nedlands workroom and install curtains and blinds across Perth.
A heading that gathers the whole width of the curtain into a continuous run of narrow upright folds, each about the width of a pencil, with no flat spaces between them. It differs from a pinch pleat, which collects the fabric into stitched groups at intervals.
Three times the track width. Below that the gather goes shallow and the heading looks sparse and unfinished. It is the fullest of the common headings — more than the 2.5 we use for a triple pinch pleat.
No, and this surprises most people. Because a pencil pleat needs 3x fullness against 2.5 for a triple pinch pleat, a properly made pencil pleat uses more fabric and generally costs more. The cheap reputation comes from ready-made curtains gathered at far less than 3x.
Because the gather is continuous rather than grouped. A pleated heading folds along its pleats into a structured column; a pencil pleat has no fold line to work along, so it bunches instead and does not compress as tightly. On a wide window the open curtain covers more glass than expected.
Yes, on request. It is not a heading we are often asked for, but it remains the right answer for matching existing curtains, for period accuracy in a heritage house, on small windows, and behind a pelmet.
