The Complete Handbook of Curtain Holdbacks & Tassels

Chapter 1: Understanding Curtain Holdbacks & Tassels

Walk into any room where curtains are doing their job correctly, and you will rarely notice the small piece of hardware holding the fabric back from the window. That is the point. A curtain holdback, with its matching tassel or tieback, is one of the few components in a room that must entirely disappear into its function. When it works, the drapery stays neatly stacked against the wall, light floods in through the revealed glass, and the fabric hangs without stress creases. When it fails, you get a sagging panel, a bent bracket, or a frayed cord that snaps at the worst possible moment. This chapter establishes what curtain holdbacks and tassels actually are, how they function mechanically, and why getting the details right matters far more than the catalog photo suggests.

At its most basic, a curtain holdback is a rigid anchor mounted to the wall or window frame that holds a drapery panel to one side. The two most common forms are the tieback hook and the arm holdback. A tieback hook is a short projection, typically 2 to 4 inches, with a rounded or angled end that catches a fabric loop or cord wrapped around the curtain. An arm holdback is a longer projection, often 4 to 8 inches, that the curtain is simply draped over or behind. The tassel is the weighted, decorative end of a cord or fabric tie that wraps around the curtain and secures it to