Curtain heading types, explained

The heading decides how a curtain hangs, how it stacks and which hardware it needs. It is where most of the look is won. Here is every type worth knowing, and what each asks of the pole or track.

Trade guide · 9 min read

People agonise over fabric and finish, then treat the heading as an afterthought. Yet the heading is what you actually see. It sets how the curtain folds, how tightly it stacks, how formal it reads, and which hardware it can hang from. Choose it deliberately and the rest of the scheme follows. Here is every heading type in common use, and what each one needs.

What is a curtain heading?

A curtain heading is the way the top of the curtain is made: the pleating, gathering or loops that shape the fabric and attach it to a pole or track. Most headings are formed by heading tape: a woven strip sewn across the back of the fabric with fine cords running through it. Draw the cords and the flat fabric gathers into its pleats; pockets in the tape then take the hooks that hang the curtain from rings or gliders. Hand-sewn headings (pinch pleat, goblet, box pleat) do the same job with stitched, permanent pleats instead of drawn cords. A few headings skip tape and hooks entirely: eyelet, tab-top and rod-pocket curtains meet the pole directly.

Curtain heading types at a glance

Ten headings cover almost everything specified in the UK. The full detail on each follows below.

Wave

A continuous, even S-ripple held by a cord threaded through evenly spaced gliders. Wave is clean, contemporary and architectural: the natural choice for long runs and floor-to-ceiling glass, because it stacks back tightly and predictably. It needs a track or a compatible glider pole, not rings. If the brief is modern and the glass is generous, wave is usually the answer.

Pinch pleat (French pleat)

Fabric gathered and hand-stitched into groups: double for a neat tailored look, triple for fuller grandeur. Pinch pleat is structured and formal, holding a defined fold from heading to hem. It hangs from rings on a pole or gliders on a track, so it works on either system, and suits anything from a smart sitting room to a period drawing room. It uses more fabric and takes more stack-back than a flat heading.

Pencil pleat

The familiar gathered tape that draws up into tight, pencil-thin folds. Versatile, forgiving and economical, it works on almost any pole or track and reads as classic rather than statement. A dependable default when the fabric, not the heading, should lead.

Gathered (cottage) heading

A shallower tape drawn up into loose, informal gathers rather than pencil pleat's tight uniform columns. Gathered headings (sometimes called cottage or shirred headings) use less fabric, sit happily under a shallow pelmet or on a small window, and read as soft and unstudied. They suit country and cottage schemes, kitchens and bedrooms where crisp tailoring would feel over-dressed, and they hang from hooks on either a pole or a track. The trade-off: with less fullness the folds are less disciplined, so simpler fabrics fare best.

Goblet

A cup-shaped pleat, rounded at the top like a wine glass: grand and unmistakably formal. Goblet belongs on tall windows in period and high-end schemes, and is usually shown on a pole where the heading sits proud and on display. It is a deliberate, decorative choice, not an everyday one.

Eyelet

Metal rings punched into the heading thread directly onto the pole, giving soft, even, contemporary folds. Eyelet only works on a pole: never a track, and never uses rings. It is relaxed and easy, but note the eyelet size must suit the pole diameter, and standard eyelet curtains cannot pass support brackets, which is why they are awkward on a bay.

Box pleat

Flat, tailored panels of fabric folded back on themselves and pressed, so the face of the curtain reads as crisp, ordered planes rather than soft folds. Box pleat is the most structured heading of all: smart in studies, dining rooms and dressed schemes where discipline is the point, and it is fabric-hungry, typically needing 2.5–3× fullness. It hangs from hooks on a pole or track, and because the pleats are pressed in, it holds its shape whether the curtain is drawn or open.

Cartridge pleat

Small, round, evenly spaced pleats, each one a neat rolled cylinder with the fabric falling from it in a single relaxed fold. Cartridge pleat is pinch pleat's quieter sibling: architectural without being fussy, and lighter on fabric than double or triple pinch. It suits tall windows and plain, weighty fabrics such as wool and heavy linen, where a few clean vertical lines say more than a crowded heading. Hooks on rings or gliders, so pole or track both work; on a pole the rolled tops sit handsomely below the rings.

Tab top

Flat fabric loops sewn to the top of the panel that slide straight onto the pole: no tape, no hooks, no rings. Tab top is the simplest heading there is, common on ready-made curtains, and it reads as casual and unlined-cottage in spirit. The loops mean the curtain cannot pass a support bracket (the same constraint as eyelet), drawing is less smooth than gliders or rings, and the pole shows between tabs, so choose a pole worth looking at. Best for light use: bedrooms, cloakrooms, secondary spaces.

Rod pocket (slot heading)

A channel sewn across the top of the curtain that the pole threads straight through, shirring the fabric along it, often with a small frill standing above. Rod pocket is decorative rather than working: the fabric grips the pole, so these curtains are essentially fixed dressings, pushed open by hand at best. That makes them right for sheers, café curtains, dress curtains that never draw, and doorway curtains, and wrong for anything opened daily. Pole only, by definition, and best on slim diameters where the shirring stays neat.

How the heading changes stack-back

Fuller headings take more room when open. A flat wave stacks tightly and predictably; deep pinch pleats and goblet pleats need more wall space; pencil pleat sits in between. Factor this into the pole or track length. Our stack-back guide shows how. And the heading also affects the drop you measure, since some headings hang from the top of the pole and others from below a ring.

Common questions