Curtain Headings Explained: Wave, Pinch Pleat, Eyelet and Tab Top
People choose curtains by colour and then get handed a list of headings — wave, pinch pleat, eyelet, tab top — usually with prices attached and no explanation. The heading is the top few centimetres of the curtain, the part that attaches to the track or pole. It is also the thing that decides how the fabric falls for its entire drop, which is why it changes the look of a room far more than most people expect.
Wave
A continuous, even S-curve from one end of the track to the other. The fabric is carried on a special tape and glider system so the folds are uniform and the curtain stacks back neatly.
Wave is the heading that suits modern UAE apartments best, and it is not a style preference so much as a structural fit. Tower glazing usually runs floor to ceiling with very little wall above it, so there is nowhere to put a pole and no room for a decorative header. Wave sits on a slim ceiling-fixed track, takes up almost no visual height, and reads as one clean vertical rhythm across a wide expanse of glass. It needs more fabric than the others — typically around 2.5× the track width — because the S-curve is made of fabric.
Pinch pleat
The classic tailored heading: the fabric is gathered into groups at the top, hand-formed and stitched, usually in threes (a triple pleat) or twos.
Pinch pleat looks deliberate and formal, and it is the heading that suits a majlis or a villa living room with real wall height above the window. It carries a pole well, which matters if the pole is part of the look rather than something to hide. It uses around 2.0× fullness. In an apartment with no wall above the glass it tends to look cramped, because the pleats need a bit of air above them to read properly.
Eyelet (grommet)
Metal rings punched through the top of the fabric, threaded straight onto a pole. The fabric falls into deep, regular waves.
Eyelet is the most forgiving heading and the easiest to draw, which makes it a sensible choice for a child's room, a rental, or any curtain that gets pulled several times a day. It has to go on a pole — you cannot run eyelets on a ceiling track — so it needs enough wall above the window for the pole and its brackets. The look is relaxed rather than tailored.
Tab top
Loops of fabric over a pole. The simplest and most casual of the four, and the lightest visually, which is why it suits sheers better than it suits heavy blackout cloth.
The trade-off is practical: tab tops do not slide easily. Fabric against a pole has friction in a way a glider does not, so a tab top curtain you open and close several times a day becomes annoying. For a panel that mostly stays where it is, it is fine and it looks light.
Which one should you actually pick?
Answer these three, in order, and the choice usually makes itself:
- How much wall is there above the glass? Almost none means a ceiling track, which means wave. Plenty means a pole is available, which opens up pinch pleat and eyelet.
- How often will it be drawn? Several times a day favours wave or eyelet. Rarely drawn allows tab top.
- Formal or relaxed? Pinch pleat is the most tailored, tab top the least.
Two things worth knowing before you compare quotations. First, the heading changes how much fabric the curtain needs, so a "more expensive" heading is often just more cloth — see how much fabric curtains actually need. Second, a cheap quotation is sometimes a heading quoted at lower fullness, which is invisible on paper and very visible on the wall.
You can see the headings we make in the curtains section, and the price estimator will give you a figure for your own window size. If you are undecided, this is exactly the sort of thing that resolves itself in ninety seconds when someone is standing in the room with you.
