Why Sophie is one of our best-selling net curtains, and how to choose the right style for summer

If you’ve spent any time browsing net curtains, you’ve probably come across Sophie without realising how many customers already have one. It’s a traditional, damask-inspired pattern, an all-over floral and swirl design with a neat scallop hem, and it’s one of our best-selling designs for a simple reason: it does the job a net curtain is meant to do, and it does it well, whatever the season.

Summer is when that matters most. Longer days and brighter light mean more hours where your rooms are visible from outside, right when you’re most likely to have windows open. Sophie’s dense pattern is designed for exactly this: enough coverage for genuine privacy, without turning your room dark or shutting out the light you actually want.

What makes Sophie one of our best-sellers

There’s no single trick to it. Sophie is one of our most popular designs because the pattern density is well judged: dense enough for privacy, open enough for light. It’s also available in enough styles and colours to suit most windows and most homes. It’s a design customers keep coming back to, and one of the ones we’re asked about most often.

Net curtain, café curtain or jardinière: which one for you

Sophie comes in three styles, each suited to a slightly different job. Here’s how they differ.

The Net Curtain

This is the full-length version, made to measure to your window’s width and drop. Choose finished sides if you want a neater, longer-lasting hem, or unfinished sides if you prefer them cut and ready to hang. It’s the option most people mean when they picture a Sophie curtain, and it works well on most standard windows and doors.

The Cafe Curtain

A café curtain covers the lower half of your window rather than the full drop, so you keep privacy at eye level while still letting more light into the top of the room. It’s a good option for kitchens, ground-floor rooms, or any window where you want light without losing privacy from the pavement or a neighbouring garden.

The Jardiniere

The jardinière has the same all-over floral design but with a more decorative, scalloped finish along the bottom edge. It suits anyone who wants the practicality of Sophie with a slightly more traditional, finished look, particularly on bay windows or period-style properties.

Why net curtains work so well in summer

It’s easy to think of net curtains as a winter fixture, there to keep the cold out and the cosiness in. In practice, they earn their keep just as much in summer. As soon as the clocks change and the evenings lengthen, your windows are lit from outside for far more of the day, and if you’re the kind of household that has windows open for the fresh air, that visibility only increases.

A well-chosen net curtain, like Sophie, solves this without the compromise of heavier curtains or blinds. You get privacy during the brightest, longest days of the year, while the fabric itself still lets light move through the room.

Made to measure: how it works

Every Sophie curtain is cut and finished to your exact window size, not a standard size you have to work around. You’ll need your window’s width and drop in centimetres, we’d always recommend measuring in centimetres for the most precise result, even if you’re more used to thinking in inches. Once you’ve got your measurements, you simply enter them on the product page and we do the rest.

A gather of 2.5 times your window’s width is our usual recommendation for the fullest, most traditional look. If you’d prefer something a little less full and more contemporary, a 1.5 times gather works well too, it’s a small adjustment, but it changes the finished look noticeably.

White or cream: which to choose

Sophie is available in both white and cream. White tends to suit newer or brighter interiors, and it’s the more common choice if your existing curtains, blinds or woodwork are white. Cream sits a little softer against warmer wall colours and older or more traditional properties. Neither is a compromise on the pattern or the privacy: it comes down entirely to what suits your room.

Choosing the right Sophie for your home

If you’re only dressing one window and want full coverage, the net curtain is the safest choice. If light at the top of the window matters to you, or you’re covering a kitchen or ground-floor room, the café curtain is worth considering. And if you want a slightly more decorative finish without changing the practical benefits, the jardinière gives you that without any extra fuss.

Whichever style you choose, the same design principles apply throughout: a dense enough pattern for real privacy, and a fabric that still lets summer light do its job.

Ready to browse the Sophie range?

Sophie is available now, made to your exact measurements, in white or cream, and in net curtain, café curtain and jardinière styles. If you’re not sure which is right for your window, our team is happy to talk you through it before you order.

Browse the Sophie range and find the right fit for your windows this summer.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Absolutely love these curtains! They are so pretty. They provide nice privacy, while allowing air flow – Kelly