Online fast-track (Zoom) diploma
Professional Soft Furnishings & Curtain Making
Whether your dream involves crafting beautiful fabric creations for your home or you want to start your own soft furnishings business, this 16-week part-time course will provide you with the tools for success.
Entry Requirements
No previous qualifications required! Age 16+
Craft Beautiful Soft Furnishing Creations
Course Breakdown
You will study 8 dedicated units during this professional soft furnishings & curtain making diploma.
Unit 01 - Practical Skills for Professional Curtain Making & Soft Furnishings
Practical Skills for Professional Curtain Making & Soft Furnishings
This unit introduces you to the essential tools, terminology and techniques that form the foundation of professional curtain making and soft furnishings. You’ll learn how to measure windows, carry out site surveys, and understand how different treatments transform a room. Through hands-on activities, you’ll build core construction skills such as cutting, stitching and creating trims, giving you the confidence to approach a variety of projects with precision and creativity. This unit also includes:
- Window measuring and site surveys
- Styles of window treatments and their visual impact
- Components, fixtures and fittings for installation
- Practical fabric handling and construction skills
- Creating decorative piping and trims
Unit 02 - Understanding Fabric & Colour Theory
Understanding Fabric & Colour Theory
This unit explores the fascinating world of fabrics and colour, helping you choose the right materials for any curtain or soft furnishing project. You’ll discover how different fabrics perform, when and why fire-retardant treatments are essential, and how colour can transform a space both visually and emotionally. By applying colour theory and exploring trends, you’ll gain the confidence to create inspiring schemes that enhance mood, style and proportion. This unit also includes:
- Recognising fabric types & their suitability for curtain designs
- Understanding fire-retardancy and its applications
- Colour theory, colour schemes and the psychology of colour
- How to produce professional sample boards
- Identifying fabric suppliers and new collections
- Recognising historical uses of fabric in interiors
Unit 03 - Developing Professional Curtain Construction Techniques
Developing Professional Curtain Construction Techniques
This unit builds your skills in making beautifully finished, professional-quality curtains. You’ll learn how to select the right fabrics, linings, interlinings, fixtures and fittings, while developing the precision needed to calculate fabric quantities for both plain and patterned designs. Through hands-on practice, you’ll refine techniques such as mitred corners, weights, trims and heading tapes, ensuring every curtain you create achieves an accurate fit and a flawless finish. This unit also includes:
- Selecting appropriate materials, fixtures and fittings
- Calculating fabric quantities for plain and patterned designs
- Preparing fabrics with accuracy and precision
- Mitred corners, weights, trims, linings and interlinings
- Applying professional hand and machine stitching techniques
Unit 04 - Constructing Curtains & Valances with Handmade Headers
Constructing Curtains & Valances with Handmade Headers
This unit introduces you to the art of creating handmade headers, a traditional technique that gives curtains and valances a truly bespoke finish. You’ll explore a variety of styles, from triple and double pleats to goblet and cartridge designs, learning how different combinations transform the look of a window treatment. Through practical activities, you’ll master the skills of calculating pleats, preparing fabrics, inserting buckram and adding trims, achieving professional results every time. This unit also includes:
- Exploring traditional and contemporary handmade header styles
- Calculating pleats, spaces and fabric requirements
- Preparing fabrics and decorative trims
- Inserting buckram tape for structure and support
- Constructing pleats for a range of headings
Unit 05 - Constructing a Roman Blind
Constructing a Roman Blind
This unit focuses on the skills needed to design and make beautifully tailored Roman blinds. You’ll learn how to select the right fabrics for both function and style, while understanding the safety standards and devices that must be applied for legal compliance. Through accurate measuring, precise cutting and professional construction techniques, you’ll create a fully functioning Roman blind, complete with panels or trims, ready for installation. This unit also includes:
- Understanding the qualities and styles of Roman blinds
- Selecting suitable fabrics and decorative trims
- Window blind safety standards and compliance
- Measuring and cutting fabric with precision
- Constructing a professional Roman blind
- Combining hand and machine stitching techniques
Unit 06 - Developing Professional Cushion Making Skills
Developing Professional Cushion Making Skills
This unit introduces you to the design and construction of cushions, combining style with functionality. You’ll explore a variety of cushion types, fillings, fabrics, trims and fastenings, learning how to select the right materials for different purposes. Through hands-on practice, you’ll refine skills in accurate measuring, preparing fabrics, and applying professional hand and machine stitching, enabling you to create beautifully finished cushions to a professional standard. This unit also includes:
- Exploring cushion styles and their applications
- Recognising cushion fillings and their suitability
- Selecting appropriate fabrics, trims and fastenings
- Calculating fabric quantities for different cushion designs
- Preparing fabrics with seam allowances and trim considerations
Unit 07 - Constructing Pelmets & Tiebacks
Constructing Pelmets & Tiebacks
This unit explores the design and construction of pelmets and tiebacks, essential finishing touches that enhance both the style and proportions of a window treatment. You’ll discover how different shapes, materials and trims create looks suited to traditional or contemporary interiors. Through practical activities, you’ll learn how to prepare templates, cut and stiffen fabrics, add decorative details and apply stitching techniques, before completing each piece with professional fixtures and fittings. This unit also includes:
- Exploring pelmet and tieback styles for different interiors
- Selecting suitable fabrics, stiffeners and fixings
- Preparing templates with accuracy
- Cutting and preparing fabrics with decorative trims
- Using stiffening materials for structure and finish
- Applying stitching techniques, fixtures and fitting
Unit 08 - Setting up a Soft Furnishing Business
Setting up a Soft Furnishing Business
This unit prepares you to develop the skills and knowledge needed to plan and run a curtain making and soft furnishing business. You’ll learn how to set up an efficient workroom, manage costs and price your services accurately to help ensure profitability. You’ll also explore how to attract clients, build a professional brand and establish strong supplier relationships, giving you the confidence to launch and grow your own soft furnishing enterprise. This unit also includes:
- Setting up a professional soft furnishing workroom
- Tools, equipment and materials for efficient production
- Costing and pricing soft furnishing services
- Identifying customers and building a brand
- Marketing and promoting your business effectively
- Sourcing materials, managing suppliers and trade accounts
Taught Online in 16 Weeks
Taught by industry-leading tutors, you’ll thrive in a supportive and collaborative learning environment, all from the comfort of your own home.
Our part-time Professional Soft Furnishings & Curtain Making course will be delivered over online zoom lessons with demonstration and discussion tutorials.
You will also have allocated independent study time between lessons to complete tasks and assignments.
Your dedicated tutor will also be available for one-to-ones if you require them.
Every National Design Academy student has access to our VLS (Virtual Learning Studio) which is full of helpful course resources, lessons, and study materials.
Online
Tutorials
Self Study
Upcoming Course Dates
January to May Course
10am – 12.30pm (UK Time)
Tuesdays & Fridays
Course Qualifications
By the end of this course, you will have gained thorough professional and practical skills to design and construct a diverse array of soft furnishings. You will be well-prepared to craft your own fabric creations for your home, or you can leverage your knowledge to establish your own soft furnishings business or workroom.
All NDA Diplomas are accredited by AIM Qualifications
Pricing
UK Students
Pay in Full
£1,800
£1,200
One-time payment*
Spread The Cost
3 monthly payments of
£450
£1,350 in Total*
Pricing
International Students
International fees are in US dollars.