In fairness, I do work for a company that sews
stage curtains. I've always preferred 50%
fullness, but until I had a long conversation with a person who preferred
flat, I didn't understand why. There is a consideration many forget.
Note: This is more applicable to rep or general use spaces. When a dance is hanging all their own
goods, I have no issues with going all
flat. But for most spaces, there is something that happens that makes
flat look horrible:
Most stages have a midstage or rear
traveler. When stacked/open, this will necessarily have
fullness as the carriers stack the fabric. Now, many places also use these for
masking when open, they function as if they are another
leg.
If the
leg is
flat, there is suddenly a couple
flat legs, then a "full
leg" then another
flat leg: it looks off, and ruins the suspension of disbelief for me as the world has something incrongruous in the "frame". Think of how a painting would look with two ornate sides and the two other sides with just plain boxy sides to the frame. I much prefer a unified and consistent look to the frame, it better allows my eyes to make the
masking disappear as a united whole, instead of looking like someone forgot to realize that a stacked curtain is full.
So, in this case, for any general use space, I always say go with 50% full. It's not to make more money, it's to make the space look better in a multitude of use cases. Now, telling someone to go with 100%
fullness on the main? That seems like overkill (I'd much prefer to use grommet-in
pleat to make it look more full anyway). But 50% full makes sense, unless it's a specific application.