I think the pinch pleats are fine. You can use the shorty rods as just gotta be me recommended, or you can buy one long decorative rod to run the width of the window. If you look at the window treatment ideas thread, I think you'll see samples of both. Depending on how far you want to go with this, you could do other things like add a border to the leading edge, or along the bottom. You could redo the pinch pleats so they are reversed like a box pleat from the front and have them that way...or stitch them down some and add a button or two...or add a border across the top. You can also either continue to use the tie back or let the panels hang straight.

A couple of thoughts... First, I would have no hesitation in going with silk or something fancier. It sounds like that will go with your eventual furnishing plans, and it is way easier to dress down silk than it is to dress up something more casual in the event that you later get dressy furniture. In fact, it looks like your first choice panel was a little fancier. Second, If you're doing the side-by-sides AND the four(?) single windows, you're going to have a lot of patches of this fabric around the room. I would therefore be inclined not to break the bigger set into patches as well, but stack them at either end of the stretch of windows. But if you are doing this on a single long rod, that will be something you can play with. Third, about where and how to find what you want. It sounds like so far you have two options on the table, either ready-to-hang, or going through a designer. It may be different around here (heck, I'm not even in the same country), but here there are a lot of independent drapery shops that don't bill themselves as "designers". I wonder if you could find one of those. show them the photo of the JCP panels you liked, and see if they can find you a similar fabric and make them to specification? We also have a decorator fabric store (a chain of three actually) where you wander in, pick your fabric, and they can make them up for you or you can just buy the fabric. Even our normal fabric stores around here have drapery sections... in other words, if you look for the fabric separately, you might have better luck than if you shop for finished panels. Finally, have you tried to actually call JCP, including their stores, to physically hunt down and flush out the last of those panels you like? I know this sounds a little obsessive (admittedly, I am) but I'd bet that several of their stores have one or two of them in remainder bins around the country, or that the warehouse has some somewhere. Worth pushing a little if you haven't already done so. But you do need a lot of them, and that might be hard to take to completion. Good luck! KarinL Here is a link that might be useful: Arlene's (aka fabric heaven)

Here's the beginning stages of mock up header practice. In these practice headers, I am not using the actual drapery fabric (to save on expense). This is not the actual rod & rings to be used in the final drapery. I used one of the rods currently in my home. One header is using train print fabric, lavender felt (which is much thicker than the actual interlining) & muslin for lining. I used the hand sewn method I mentioned in my first post. I made a backing band (covered in the actual lining that will be used) & hand stitched it to the gathered portion of the header. Instead of using buckram for the band, I used something a bit more pliable, so not to be too stiff. I was thinking that if I used buckram, the drapery may not scrunch up very well when moving the drapery from the closed position to the opened position. The next header to try out will use a solid silver fabric, thin cotton flannel (to represent the interlining) & the actual lining fabric. I have not sewn this practice header, yet. I could not find a 1 1/2" - 2" gather tape. I found two different 1" tapes (both have 2 cords). Not sure which one to use. The one that has the "channels" for inserting drapery pins/hooks is a little bit thinner than the other one. Since these drapes will be opened & closed daily, the slightly thicker one may be better for inserting hooks. See beginning pics of this header in my next post (I reached my photo maximum allowed in this post already) Another thought I had was...I could hand sew small rings to the back of the finished header so I won't need to insert the hooks directly into any of the bands or fabric? In the last pics, you can see how the drapery hooks move out of vertical position easily. That may not work out well when opening & closing drapes. I noticed that they sell drapery hooks in different sizes. I may be able to get smaller ones than what I currently have. Keep in mind that the actual fabric we will use in the final project has a softer and more supple feel to it compared to any of my practice fabric. The actual fabric is a blend : cotton 46%, wool 26%, silk 28%. It is solid & color is silver. The practice header is narrower than the actual width of the final drape. First pic represents "closed drape", second pic is "opened". Third pic is open (top view), fourth is closed. Last pic shows how hook moves...not sure what that will do to fabric over time.

I have the same setup RH rods and RH drapes, so you think 2 panels a window @62.5 inches? seems a bit to much on a window only 50.5 wide, the next size down would be somewhere around 50 inches which would be plenty I would think. 96 inches long is good. as to the big window, why not if you got the money. These panels and rods get expensive. The quality of the drapes from RH is good, I used to install. Pick a fabric that will hang well, go look at the merchandise if you can rather than ordering them sight unseen. Its a big deal when selecting drapes.