Every blind you can buy is one of two things. A ready-made blind is manufactured in a handful of stock sizes and sold off the shelf, to take home today. A made-to-measure blind is cut to the exact sizes you give and made to order, which means a wait of days or weeks. The choice sounds like a simple one about money, but it is really a choice about fit - so here is the honest case for each.
The fit argument
UK windows are not standard. Recess widths vary house to house, builder to builder and decade to decade, so the odds that a stock size matches your opening are poor. A ready-made blind that is narrower than the recess leaves a strip of bare glass down each side - light leaks in, passers-by can see in at night, and the window looks like it is wearing someone else's clothes. One that is wider will not go into the recess at all, forcing a face fit over the opening whether you wanted one or not.
A made-to-measure blind is cut to your opening, so it fills the recess cleanly with just the working clearance it needs. That fit is the whole product: it is why the blind blocks light properly at the edges, keeps the room private, and looks like part of the window rather than a covering hung near it. Measure carefully - our measuring guide walks through it - and the blind drops in first time.
The money argument
On the day, ready-made wins - it is the cheaper way to cover a window this afternoon, and nothing made to order can match that. The picture changes over time. A ready-made blind that never quite fitted tends to get replaced sooner, because a poor fit annoys you a little every single day. One that gets trimmed badly gets replaced immediately. Buy twice and the saving is gone. A made-to-measure blind costs more up front, fits from day one and stays up for years, so the fairer comparison is cost per year on the window, not cost at the till.
About trimming a ready-made roller
Some ready-made rollers are sold to be cut down at home: hacksaw the tube and bottom bar, slice the fabric with a sharp blade and a straight edge. It can work, and plenty of people manage it. It is also easy to ruin. Cut the fabric even slightly off square and the blind rolls up crooked or telescopes to one side; a wavering blade leaves a frayed edge you will see against the light forever; and a cut cannot be uncut. Other types are worse candidates still - pleated, day-and-night and Roman blinds do not take kindly to home surgery at all. If you go the trimming route, treat it as a one-shot job and measure with the same care you would give a made-to-measure order.
When ready-made is the right call
- Rentals, where you want something presentable that stays behind when you leave.
- Temporary fixes - covering a window during a renovation, or while you save for the blind you actually want.
- Genuinely standard windows, where a stock size happens to match your recess. If it fits, it fits.
- Immediate need - a new baby, a heatwave, an overlooked bathroom. Today beats perfect.
When made to measure is
- Any window you look at daily. A slightly-wrong blind in your main living space is a small irritation on permanent repeat.
- Bays and awkward openings, which stock sizes essentially never fit.
- Blackout that must seal - bedrooms and nurseries, where the gap a ready-made leaves at each edge is exactly where the morning light gets in.
- Longevity - if you plan to stay, buy the blind that fits the house.
The honest close: people assume made to measure sits in a different league on price, and at common window sizes it simply does not. The gap between a decent ready-made and a made-to-measure blind in an everyday fabric is smaller than most buyers expect - and because the identical made-to-measure blind varies in price from retailer to retailer, comparing before you buy narrows it further. If the stock size truly fits, take the bargain. If it nearly fits, that "nearly" is what you will live with.
Frequently asked questions
Is made to measure much more expensive than ready-made?
The gap is smaller than most people expect at common window sizes. Ready-made wins on the day you buy it, but a poor fit, a bad trim or an early replacement erases the saving quickly.
Can you cut a ready-made roller blind down to size?
Often yes, and kits exist for it - but it is easy to cut badly, the cut edge can fray or run off square, and a mistake is permanent. If the window is anything other than a standard size, made to measure avoids the risk entirely.
When is a ready-made blind the right choice?
Rentals, temporary fixes, standard-size windows and anywhere you need something up today. If the blind is short-term or the fit is genuinely standard, ready-made is the pragmatic answer.
Why does fit matter so much on blinds?
A blind that is too narrow leaks light and looks wrong every single day; one that is too wide will not fit the recess at all. Windows in UK homes vary far more than ready-made size charts assume, which is why made to measure exists.