Most curtain problems start with one measurement taken in the wrong place. A van window is not a rectangle sitting on a flat wall: it has a rubber or a plastic surround, it often sits above the upholstery, and on a converted van there is usually something built up to it. Measured properly the first time, a curtain set fits. Measured from the frame with the tape held at an angle, it comes back too short and nothing can be done about it.
You need three things
- A tape measure - a stiff one is easier on your own than a soft dressmaker's tape.
- A phone, for one photo per window.
- Something to write on, so the number stays with the window it belongs to. "800" on its own is useless a week later.
Step 1: measure the glass, at its widest point
Measure across the glass itself, not the frame and not the opening in the panel. On a window with a rounded corner the widest point is in the middle of the curve; on a sliding door window it is usually dead centre. Write it in millimetres.
Then decide how much you want the curtain to overlap each side. The overlap is what stops a bright line running down the edge of the fabric in the morning, and on a van it is usually 30-60mm each side depending on how much wall or trim there is to cover.
Step 2: the drop, measured from where the track will be
The drop is the measurement people get wrong, because it is not the height of the window - it is the distance from where the curtain hangs to where you want the fabric to finish.
Find the height the track or blind will sit at. Under a door card, above a trim, behind a pelmet: that is your starting point. Measure straight down to where the fabric should end. On a van that is normally the seat base or the top of the upholstery, not the floor - a curtain that reaches the floor in a campervan catches on everything and wears out along the bottom edge.
Step 3: one photo of every window
Square on, in daylight, with the whole window in frame and whatever is around it: the pelmet, the seat, the cupboard, the seat belt mounting. This is the step that catches the window that opens outward, the one where the trim is 40mm thick, and the one where a curtain cannot sit because there is no fixing point on the wall at all. A photo tells us more than a paragraph of description.
Step 4: anything that is not a rectangle
Curved cab corners, angled Delica glass, shaped rear quarter windows and caravan front windows all need the shape, not just the size. Trace it: lay paper over the glass, run a pencil around the inside of the opening, then photograph the trace with the tape measure lying across it. That is a working drawing we can cut to.
What to write down for each window
- Which window it is - driver's door, slider, rear left, cab.
- Width of the glass at its widest point, in millimetres.
- The drop from the track height to where you want the fabric to finish.
- How you want it lined: blackout, thermal, or both.
- Whether you need a track, or the window already has one.
The two mistakes that cost the most
Measuring the frame instead of the glass. A window with a thick surround can be 60mm wider at the frame than at the glass. The curtain then hangs off the end of the window and light comes in past both edges.
Guessing the drop because the van is full of gear. Park somewhere flat, empty the seat, and measure it properly. If the drop is short, no lining weight will fix it.
Send us the numbers and we check them
If you would rather not guess, send the van, the count of windows and the photos to [email protected], and explore our made-to-measure service to see how a set is built from those numbers. If a measurement looks wrong against the photo, we ask before anything is cut. You can also view our honeycomb blinds if you would rather measure for a blind than a curtain - the same width and drop, with a tighter fit to the glass.