Custom Draperies
Custom draperies from Exotic Shades & Draperies are cut and sewn in our own Fort Lauderdale atelier by five in-house seamstresses: sheers, pinch pleat, ripplefold and blackout panels in designer fabrics, on decorative hardware or motorized tracks, installed by our own team in Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach, Boca Raton and Palm Beach homes.
Draperies, as couture
Custom made draperies are a different product from anything off a shelf. From flowing sheers to acoustic blackout panels in French fabrics, our luxury drapery blends performance and beauty - every panel cut and sewn in our own atelier by five in-house seamstresses, on the latest cutting and conveyor technology, finished by hand. Pair them with motorized drapery systems for effortless, elegant control - our signature craft. The fabrics come from the houses designers specify - Loro Piana, Romo, Zimmer + Rohde, Kravet, Manuel Canovas, Christian Fischbacher - and we keep their books in the showroom and bring them to your home.
Recently: Luxury Home, Boca Raton - Villa Nova Toronto FR blackout drapery on two bent motorized tracks, closing around the master bedroom's angled windows and stacking clear of the glass. Also: Fasano Fifth Avenue, New York - pinch-pleat Villa Nova chenille and striped sheers, hand-drawn on Forest Group decorative rods over Central Park.
Styles & options
Custom Draperies
Pinch pleat, ripple fold, and tailored styles in premium designer fabrics.
Sheers
Light, airy panels that soften architecture and diffuse Florida light beautifully.
Motorized Drapery
Lutron and Somfy drapery systems for silent, scheduled, app-controlled movement.
Drapery Hardware
Refined rods, tracks, and finials - finished to complement your interior.
Acoustic & Blackout
German acoustic liners and blackout layers for media rooms and bedrooms.
Trade Partnerships
We collaborate with designers, architects, and developers on bespoke projects.
Recent installations
Double-Height Drapery
Ocean-View Draperies
Motorized Sheers
Frequently asked
Do you sew custom fabric curtains for Miami Beach homes?
Every week - custom fabric curtains for Miami Beach and Miami condos, and drapes for Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale houses, all cut and sewn by our five in-house seamstresses.
Do you offer motorized draperies?
Yes - we install Lutron and Somfy drapery systems that open and close silently on schedule, by app, or by voice.
Can you match a designer's fabric?
Absolutely. We work to the trade and source from premium fabric houses, or fabricate from a designer's specified fabric.
What about acoustics and blackout?
We layer acoustic liners and blackout fabrics for media rooms and bedrooms without sacrificing the drapery's elegance.
Pleats, sewn in-house
Ripplefold
Continuous, even waves on a quiet track - the modern signature for floor-to-ceiling glass and motorized walls of sheers. Snap-tape spacing controls the fullness (80%, 100%, 120%).
Pinch Pleat
The tailored classic - double or triple (French) pinch, hand-finished, for formal living rooms and traditional interiors.
Euro Pleat
The contemporary favorite - a two-finger pleat tacked at the very top so the fabric falls in long, relaxed columns. Less formal than a French pinch, more structured than ripplefold - beautiful in linen.
Tailored / Inverted Pleat
Clean, architectural folds that read minimal from the front - the designer favorite when hardware stays hidden in a recessed pocket.
Roman Shades
Flat, relaxed, or banded - fabric folds engineered to stack evenly, sewn to the window's exact width. See Roman shades.
Goblet & Specialty
Goblet, cartridge, and cuff pleats for estates and formal rooms - if it can be sewn, our seamstresses can make it.
Valances, Cornices & Pelmets
Box-pleat and scalloped valances, upholstered cornice boards, and structured pelmets that finish the top of the window. Explore top treatments.
Blackout Draperies
Sewn-in blackout lining, wall returns, and center overlaps for true darkness. Explore blackout drapery.
Interlining & Blackout
Bump interlining for body and acoustics, sewn-in blackout liners for true darkness - hotel-grade construction, residential finish.
The four decisions behind every great drape
Most quotes never explain them. Understand these and you can read any drapery proposal - ours or anyone's - like a professional.
1. The Pleat
The pleat is the drape's architecture. Ripplefold makes continuous S-waves on a track - modern, glider-smooth, the choice for motorization and walls of glass. Pinch pleat (double or triple French) is the hand-tacked classic for formal rooms. Euro pleat tacks at the top for relaxed, contemporary columns. Inverted hides the tailoring; goblet crowns an estate. The pleat also sets the stack - how much wall the drape occupies when open.
2. Fullness
Fullness is how much fabric is sewn into the width - and it is where cheap drapes fail. 2x fullness means a 10-foot window gets 20 feet of fabric; the waves are deep and the drape looks generous even closed. Budget drapery runs 1.5x and looks flat. Sheers sing at 2.5x-3x. In ripplefold, fullness comes from snap-tape spacing: 80%, 100%, or 120%. When you compare quotes, compare fullness first - it is the number that changes everything.
3. The Liner
Unlined lets light glow through - right for sheers. A privacy liner adds opacity, protects the face fabric from sun fade, and gives the drape better body. A blackout liner makes the panel light-tight for bedrooms. Interlining - a layer of soft bump sewn between face and liner - is the couture secret: it makes silk and linen hang heavy and rich, insulates, and quiets a room. Hotel suites are interlined; most retail drapes are not.
4. Fabric Width: 54" vs 108"
Most decorative fabrics come on 54-inch goods - drapes are built from vertical widths sewn together, and on a wide window the seams are part of the design. 108-inch (wide-width) goods, mostly sheers, run sideways ("railroaded") so a 20-foot wall of sheers is one seamless piece. It is why our oceanfront sheer walls look poured rather than paneled - and why fabric choice and window width must be decided together.
Pleat, fullness, liner, width - four decisions, dozens of combinations. This is exactly what the free one-hour consultation settles in your own light, with samples in hand - and why that hour routinely saves owners thousands in avoidable mistakes.
The materials behind the drape
Sheers & Linens
European sheers and natural linens that diffuse South Florida light beautifully - see sheer draperies and our coastal fabric guide for sun and salt-air performance.
Blackout & Dim-Out
From soft dim-out weaves to total-blackout laminates for bedrooms and media rooms.
Performance Weaves
UV-stable, humidity-tolerant fabrics selected for oceanfront exposure - beauty that lasts past the first summer.
Recessed Tracks
Our low-profile and Blindspace® flush-mounted tracks disappear into ceiling pockets - we provide pocket dimensions at framing stage (see the pre-wire guide).
Decorative Rods
Metal and wood rods, rings, and finials when the hardware should be part of the design. Explore drapery hardware.
Motorized Tracks
Lutron and Somfy Glydea tracks, whisper-quiet, on schedules or voice - see motorized drapes.
Real draperies, real homes
Every panel below was sewn in our own workroom and installed by our own team - no stock photos.
Watch it being made
Five master seamstresses, each with over 20 years at the machine, and an automated cutting and conveyor line most workrooms have never seen. Ripplefold pleat, pinch pleat - if you can imagine it, and it can be sewn, we make it here in South Florida.
Discerning homeowners, designers, and developers across South Florida trust Exotic with their most important spaces.
"I'm really happy with my new curtains! The team came to my place, helped me choose the right fabric, and guided me through the whole process. Great service and beautiful results. Highly recommend, A+."
"We were referred to Exotic Shades by our contractor. They understood exactly what we had in mind and delivered it. The whole process was simple, and the pricing was very good."
"I needed help adjusting the existing Lutron shades in my new home. Most companies would not touch a system installed by someone else, but Exotic sent a technician the same week."
Custom draperies in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Boca Raton & Palm Beach
Custom draperies cut and sewn in our own atelier by five in-house seamstresses - sheers, pinch pleat, ripplefold, blackout and motorized panels in designer fabrics. Our workroom and showroom are at 4539 Powerline Rd in Fort Lauderdale, our second showroom is South of Fifth in Miami Beach, and the same in-house team measures and installs from Miami to Palm Beach.
Time to dress your windows?
One free hour with our team routinely saves owners thousands in avoidable mistakes - wrong fabrics, bad mounts, missed motorization. Book a private, complimentary consultation - we bring the fabrics, the swatches, and honest answers. Start with the free guide: the 5 costly mistakes.