Swish Curtain Hooks

Curtain hooks are the quiet bridge between your curtains and their track. They are small, inexpensive and usually invisible behind the heading — and yet the wrong hook makes a pair of curtains sit crookedly, pull unevenly or simply fall off the track. This page explains which Swish curtain hooks work with which curtains.

Anatomy of a Curtain Hook

Every curtain hook has three parts:

• The shank, which rises from the tape to the track
• The pin or flat back, which enters the pocket of the heading tape
• The curved top, which hooks through the eye of the glider

A hook fits a tape vertically, hangs downwards in two directions, and takes the whole weight of that portion of the curtain.

The Main Types of Curtain Hook

Plastic Pin Hooks (the Swish Classic)

By far the most common pairing with a Swish track. A short pin slots up into one of the little pockets in the heading tape, a curved plastic body takes the turn, and the top hooks cleanly onto the glider’s eye. Pin hooks are light, quiet and cost next to nothing to replace.

Choose pin hooks for pencil-pleat, pinch-pleat and goblet-pleat headings. The pin makes them very tolerant of tape-tension errors: if the pleats are not perfectly even, you can push a hook a few millimetres to one side and the eye will still line up with the glider above.

Flat Plastic Hooks

Used with some specialist heading tapes and occasionally with older Swish tape. A flat back slides up behind the tape, and a curved top again attaches to the glider. Flat hooks work well where the tape has no pockets.

Metal Pin Hooks

Identical in pattern to plastic pin hooks but made from formed metal. They carry more weight per hook and are the right choice for heavy velvet or interlined curtains. They are slightly more expensive but last almost indefinitely.

Combination (Pinch-Pleat) Hooks

A four-pronged hook that grips three or four adjacent pockets in the tape and pulls them together to form a ready-made pinch pleat. Very satisfying when you get them spaced evenly. Combination hooks are used with loose-weave heading tapes that do not have pre-made pleats.

How Many Hooks Do I Need?

As a rule of thumb, one hook for every 8–10 cm of finished curtain width. Counting the pockets on the tape makes this easy: most pencil-pleat tapes have three rows of pockets, and you simply fill every other pocket in the row you want to use.

Measure the width of a single curtain after gathering and divide by 8. Multiply by two for a pair of curtains. This gives a sensible starting number; always buy a small surplus for future spares.

Hook Height Adjustment

Most tapes have three rows of pockets at different heights. You use these to fine-tune the height of the curtain:

• Upper row (top-most pockets): the curtain hangs higher and the heading sits above the track. Use when you want the curtain to hide the track completely.
• Middle row: the heading sits level with the top of the track. A classic, balanced look.
• Lower row: the curtain hangs lower, so a little more of the track is visible. Useful if the curtain is a fraction too long.

Decide which row to use before you begin hooking, and use the same row right across the curtain so the top line is perfectly flat.

Fitting Hooks Step by Step

1. Lay the curtain flat, face down, with the heading tape at the top.
2. Locate the row of pockets you want to use. Start at one edge and push the first hook into the tape.
3. Count along four pockets and insert the next hook. Continue until you reach the other edge.
4. Hang the curtain by lifting it up to the track and slipping each hook onto a glider. Start at one end and work across; the last glider should match the last hook.
5. Stand back and check the heading is level. Adjust by moving hooks up or down a row of pockets.

Caring for Your Hooks

Remove hooks before washing curtains. Hooks can snag on other garments in a washing machine, and they can clog a drain. Hang the washed curtain briefly to check the heading tape is clean before re-hooking.

Keep a small tin of spares. A pack of twenty hooks is inexpensive, stores in a drawer for years and will spare you a trip to the shop on the evening you put the winter curtains back up.