The difference between Ripplefold and Wavefold Curtains and Tracks

                                                                              

The Difference

With Ripplefold, you must choose between 4 different carriers for your track; 60%, 80%, 100% and 120%. You need to know in advance which one to order and your drapery panels must be made exactly to size with the exact same number of snaps as carriers in your rod. There is only one snap tape with 4 1/4” spacing, so everything must match up perfectly.

With our Wave system, the rod comes with only one style of wave carrier with a 2 3/8” spacing. You don’t need to choose. Alternate fullness ratios are produced by adjusting the hook spacing on the wave fold tape. The tape has continuous loops across it for easy adjustment. Using this one style of carrier, you can create fullness ratios ranging from 60% (hook spacing of 3 3/4”) to 120% (hook spacing of 5 1/4”). You can even go lower or higher, if desired. You can do any fullness in between also. For example, you could do 95% fullness instead of 100%, if needed. We made a nifty one-page chart to help you out.

The Versatility

Here's an example of why this is great. Let’s say you ordered a rod 77” wide and wanted 100% Ripplefold carriers. You only want one drapery panel covering the rod. That panel needs to be 161” wide with 34 snaps. Hmm…some rough math tells you that 3 widths of 54” fabric would be fine for a double fullness ratio, so that’s what you ordered. But alas, 3 widths will hem to 156”, not the 161” you need for 34 snaps. If you don’t use 34 snaps, then you can’t cover 77”. You are 5” short in fabric width! What can you do? With Ripplefold, your choices are to order 3 more yards (what a waste), or order some 80% carriers and replace the 100% carriers in the rod (what a tangled mess). With this Wave system, all you need to do is adjust your hooks about 1/4”.

The Look

When we first made a sample of the Wavefold and hung them up next to an identical 100% fullness Ripplefold panel, we were surprised at what we saw. Without any bias, we asked multiple people to walk in and choose which looked best. They all chose the Wave fold. Maybe it was the extra body in the folds that the 3 1/2” wide clear wave tape provided. Maybe it was the fact that the hooks were 4 3/4” and carriers 2 3/8” apart, instead of snaps 4 1/4" and carriers 2 1/8” apart. Maybe it was the fact that we used the new Renaissance SurgeWave™ Neat Pleat Guides to ensure the leading edges are folded neatly back to the wall.

 

The Options

How many tracks come with the Wave option, you ask? Just about every track that we carry. No longer do you only have a couple of options for this style of drapery. All our new Renaissance tracks from the UK have the SurgeWave™ system. Our Forest tracks and Claire Deco tracks also have the wave option. This provides many basic and decorative options to choose from. We custom make all our track systems in our warehouse and ship them in just a couple of days. With easy online ordering, you too can Catch the Wave!