S Fold Curtains | Custom Made Wave Curtains

Why Lusso, Brisbane & Gold Coast

An S fold is made by its track

Choose The Track First

Every other curtain heading is sewn. This one is not. A pinch pleat holds its folds because someone stitched them in, and it will hold them on a rod, on a track, or folded in a box in your garage. An S fold curtain has no pleats at all — the wave comes entirely from carriers spaced evenly along the track, gripping a strip of snap tape sewn to the back. Take the track away and you have a flat sheet of fabric.

Which is why the honest advice on this page is about hardware rather than fabric, and why an S fold sits a little apart from the rest of our made-to-measure curtain range. The fabric is the enjoyable decision and you will get it right. The track is the one that fails quietly, eighteen months later, on a Tuesday.

01The carriers set the fold, so the spacing is fixed before a metre of fabric is cut. Get it wrong and the wave is either strangled or slack — and it cannot be adjusted afterwards the way a pencil pleat can.
02A full-height sheer across a three-metre opening is heavier than it looks, and all of it hangs off a strip of aluminium fixed to your ceiling. We find the joists at the measure, not on installation day.
03Sheer and blockout on a double track is the combination most homes here actually need — the sheer for the day, the blockout for the night. Specified together, they share one headbox and one install.
04Forty-eight years and three generations of the same family, and over 10,000 completed projects across the Gold Coast and Brisbane. We have seen how these age.

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Detail of a sheer S fold curtain curving forward and back in an even wave below its ceiling track

48

Years, three generations

The range

Eight ways we specify a wave

Local conditions

Rooms here are built to open

Park The Curtain On Wall, Not Glass

Almost every home we measure between Byron Bay and Brisbane has one wall that is mostly glass — a stacker onto a deck, a slider onto a balcony, a corner of the living room that opens up entirely. That is the point of building here. It also means the curtain has to get completely out of the way, because the view and the breeze are the whole reason the opening exists. Where that glass faces west, fabric choice stops being decorative: we can specify the sheer in Verosol SilverScreen, a metallised cloth whose backing reflects solar radiation rather than absorbing it and re-radiating it into the room.

The second-order problem is the one nobody plans for: the wall the curtain parks on. A three-metre opening with only 150mm of wall beside it gives the fabric nowhere to go, so it sits on the glass whether it is open or not. We measure the wall either side and the ceiling above before we recommend a heading, because that measurement decides more than the fabric does.

Then there is the air. Salt carries a long way inland on an easterly, and it finds the moving parts first — carriers, gliders, cord fittings. A curtain that is opened twice a day for ten years on a beachfront balcony is a mechanical product, not a soft furnishing, and the componentry has to be chosen on that basis. Fabric that fades is a warranty conversation; a carrier that seizes is a Saturday you do not get back.

The detail that matters

The Three Things Nobody Puts On The Website

Every S fold page online will tell you the folds are elegant and the look is contemporary. Both true, neither useful. These are the three that decide whether you are happy with the job in five years.

01 — Stackback

Work out what it eats before you buy it

An open curtain does not disappear. It bunches at the end of the track, and that bunch is the stackback. As a working figure, allow 20–30% of the track width across both ends in a medium-weight fabric. On a three-metre slider that is roughly 600–900mm of glass sitting behind fabric — on the view you paid for. An S fold stacks a little tighter than a stitched pinch pleat at the same fullness, because there is no permanent bunch sewn into the heading, but it still stacks. The fix is not the heading — and if you are still weighing that up, the full comparison of pinch pleat, pencil pleat and S fold sets the three side by side. The fix is running the track 250–400mm past each side of the opening so the curtain parks on the wall. The same geometry that keeps the stack off the glass is what makes the curtain work as shading: the government’s Your Home guide to shading is blunt that a covering does its best work when it clears the opening completely. That only works if there is wall there, which is exactly the sort of thing worth knowing before the fabric is cut.

02 — Fixing

Find out what the track is screwed into

This is the boring part, and it is the part that fails. A floor-to-ceiling curtain across a wide opening is heavy, and every kilogram of it hangs from a strip of aluminium fixed to your ceiling. Plasterboard on its own will not hold it. It might hold it for a year. A track needs to reach ceiling joists, or a timber batten installed above the plasterboard to give it something to bite into — the reasoning is the same one we set out in choosing between curtain rods and tracks — and where neither exists that has to be sorted out before installation day rather than discovered on it. We have been called out to more than one track that pulled out of a ceiling six months after someone else put it up. The curtains were fine. They were on the floor, but they were fine.

03 — Cords

Specify cordless in a child’s room

S fold curtains get specified for children’s bedrooms constantly, and this is the one part of the decision that is not about taste. Corded internal window coverings are covered by a mandatory Australian safety standard, and it is specific: a loose cord must not be able to form a loop 220mm or longer at less than 1,600mm above the floor. That is a real number with a real reason behind it. An S fold does not need a cord at all — hand-drawn with a wand is the simplest answer, costs nothing extra, and removes the hazard instead of managing it. Where a cord or chain is used anywhere in the house, it gets tensioned and secured to the wall as part of the installation, not left coiled on the windowsill for someone to deal with later.

Gold Coast clients

Curtains, and the people who hung them

Three of the 85 five-star reviews clients have left us. The pattern in the curtain ones is consistent, and it is not about fabric: it is about being listened to at the measure and about who turned up to install.

We had a great experience with lusso blinds. We are very happy with our Roman blinds. We highly recommend their service.

Sam & Morgan Davies

Have used Lusso on numerous occasions since we moved to the Gold Coast 5 years ago and cannot speak highly enough about the quality of both the products and service. Would not hesitate in recommending them.

Chris & Julie Allen

Very happy with all my Lusso blinds. We have had them 14 years and not a problem at all. When we recently had to repair our outdoor blind, they were swift and very efficient in fixing and it is working perfectly again. Would highly recommend this company for all your window covering needs.

Leanne Goodman

Read all 85 reviews

Where they go

Where an S fold earns its keep

Five Rooms, Five Different Answers

01 Living rooms and stackers

The room the heading was invented for. A sheer S fold across a wide opening reads as one continuous plane of fabric, and because there are no stitched pleats the back looks the same as the front — which matters when you are looking at it from the deck. Run the track past the opening on both sides so the stack lands on wall.

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02 Bedrooms

Blockout, and a straight answer about what blockout means: the fabric will stop the light, and the gaps around it will not. A blockout curtain made to the size of the problem rather than the size of the glass is the difference between a dark room and a bright halo at 5am. Overlap the centre, run it to the floor, and take the track well past the reveal.

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03 Children’s rooms

Cordless, every time. A hand-drawn S fold with a wand needs no cord at all, which removes a regulated hazard rather than managing it. Blockout for sleep, and specify it knowing a child will hang off it eventually — the track has to be fixed accordingly.

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04 Apartments and balconies

Ceiling-fixed into the slab, which is usually the easy part, and componentry chosen for salt air, which is not. Check your body corporate rules before you fall in love with a fabric: many buildings specify what the street sees, and that is a conversation worth having before the quote and not after it.

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05 Studies and spare rooms

Here is the unpopular opinion: most homes over-specify blockout and under-specify sheers. A room you work in wants glare gone, not daylight gone. A sheer on its own often does the entire job for less money, and it is the room where people most often pay for blockout they then never close.

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How it works

Three steps, quote in 48 hours

We come to you anywhere on the Gold Coast. Detailed quote within 24 to 48 hours, valid for 30 days — no deposit to get a price.

1

We measure at your place

We need the dimensions and the aspect of the room before we can quote — and for an S fold, the wall either side and the ceiling above as well. That is the measurement that decides the track.

2

A detailed quote in 24–48 hours

Itemised component by component, so you can see what the fabric costs and what the track costs, and valid for 30 days. A quote is free and carries no deposit.

3

Made, fitted and stood behind

Nothing starts until you are comfortable with the selections. We warrant our installation workmanship for 12 months from the day we fit it, and the products carry their manufacturer’s warranty.

Where we work

Where we measure and fit

Byron Bay To Brisbane

From Byron Bay to Brisbane, across the whole Gold Coast and inland to the hinterland. If you're anywhere on that stretch, we'll come to you.

Before you ask

S fold curtains, answered

What are S fold curtains?

S fold curtains hang in a single continuous S-shaped wave instead of being gathered or stitched into pleats. The wave is created by carriers spaced evenly along a track, which grip a strip of snap tape sewn to the back of the curtain — so the heading is made by the hardware rather than by the sewing. They are also sold as S wave, wave fold, wavefold and ripplefold curtains. Those are four names for the same thing; the industry never agreed on a word.

Can you hang S fold curtains on a rod?

No. The wave comes from carriers fixed at even spacing along a track, and a rod with rings cannot reproduce it. Put an S fold curtain on a rod and what you have is an expensive, badly hanging pencil pleat. If a decorative rod is part of the look you are after, pinch pleat or pencil pleat are the headings to consider instead.

Do S fold curtains need a special track?

Yes, and it is not an upsell — it is how the product works. The track carries the carriers at the spacing that sets the fold, so an S fold curtain and its track are specified together as one system. It also means the track has to be strong enough and fixed properly: a floor-to-ceiling curtain across a wide opening is heavy, and plasterboard alone will not hold it.

Should I choose sheer or blockout S fold curtains?

Sheer is the more common choice, because the continuous wave suits a light fabric and a sheer is what most living rooms actually need. Blockout suits bedrooms. If the room is used in the day and slept in at night, the honest answer is both, on a double track — the sheer in front for daylight and privacy, the blockout behind it for sleep. Specified together they share one installation, which is cheaper than adding the second layer later.

How much fabric do S fold curtains use?

As a general industry figure, an S fold is made at around 2 to 2.5 times the track width in fabric. That fullness is what produces an even wave rather than a flat panel, and it is the single biggest driver of what the curtain costs — a tall floor-to-ceiling run uses a great deal more cloth than a standard window. We work the exact quantity out from the measure, and it is itemised on your quote.

How much space do S fold curtains take up when they are open?

Allow 20 to 30 per cent of the track width for the stack across both ends, in a medium-weight fabric. On a three-metre sliding door that is roughly 600 to 900 millimetres. The way to keep that off the glass is to run the track 250 to 400 millimetres past each side of the opening so the curtain parks on the wall — which only works if there is wall there, and that is one of the first things we check at the measure.

How much do S fold curtains cost?

We will not put a figure on it before we have measured, because fabric quantity and track length drive the price and neither can be guessed from a photo. What we will tell you is the shape of it: the fabric is usually the larger number, the track is a real cost rather than an afterthought, and a double track is more than one track but far less than doing it twice. The quote is itemised, arrives within 24 to 48 hours of the measure, and is valid for 30 days.

How long do S fold curtains take?

Two to four weeks for curtains, depending on the fabric you choose, running from the check-measure to the installation rather than from your first enquiry. A specialty fabric can push that out. The lead time goes on your quote, not after the deposit, so you know it before you commit.

Get in touch

Free measure & quote, Gold Coast wide

Tell us which rooms and we'll come to you with the fabric range, measure properly, and tell you honestly which windows need side tracks and which don't.

Area Byron Bay to Brisbane, via the Gold Coast
We come to you; no showroom visit needed

Phone (07) 5528 4006

Email info@lusso.com.au

Hours Mon – Fri, 8:30am – 4pm

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