diff --git a/docxtpl/template.py b/docxtpl/template.py
index f20280a..f1750f7 100644
--- a/docxtpl/template.py
+++ b/docxtpl/template.py
@@ -82,18 +82,62 @@ def write_xml(self, filename):
         with open(filename, "w") as fh:
             fh.write(self.get_xml())
 
-    def patch_xml(self, src_xml):
+    @staticmethod
+    def _get_delim_repr(env, attr, default):
+        """Return the regex-escaped representation of a jinja2 delimiter."""
+        if env is None:
+            return re.escape(default)
+        return re.escape(getattr(env, attr))
+
+    def patch_xml(self, src_xml, jinja_env=None):
         """Make a lots of cleaning to have a raw xml understandable by jinja2 :
         strip all unnecessary xml tags, manage table cell background color and colspan,
         unescape html entities, etc..."""
 
-        # replace {<something>{ by {{   ( works with {{ }} {% and %} {# and #})
-        src_xml = re.sub(
-            r"(?<={)(<[^>]*>)+(?=[\{%\#])|(?<=[%\}\#])(<[^>]*>)+(?=\})",
-            "",
-            src_xml,
-            flags=re.DOTALL,
-        )
+        # Resolve delimiter strings (regex-escaped) for dynamic patterns.
+        # When jinja_env is None, defaults to standard Jinja2 delimiters.
+        vo = self._get_delim_repr(jinja_env, "variable_start_string", "{{")
+        vc = self._get_delim_repr(jinja_env, "variable_end_string", "}}")
+        bo = self._get_delim_repr(jinja_env, "block_start_string", "{%")
+        bc = self._get_delim_repr(jinja_env, "block_end_string", "%}")
+        co = self._get_delim_repr(jinja_env, "comment_start_string", "{#")
+        cc = self._get_delim_repr(jinja_env, "comment_end_string", "#}")
+
+        # Build a union pattern matching any Jinja2 tag:
+        #   block_start ... block_end  |  comment_start ... comment_end  |  variable_start ... variable_end
+        def _tag_union():
+            parts = []
+            if bo and bc:
+                parts.append(f"{bo}(?:(?!{bc}).)*")
+            if co and cc:
+                parts.append(f"{co}(?:(?!{cc}).)*")
+            if vo and vc:
+                parts.append(f"{vo}(?:(?!{vc}).)*")
+            return "|".join(parts)
+
+        # Join delimiter characters split across XML runs.
+        # E.g. "<w:t>[</w:t></w:r><w:r><w:t>[name]]</w:t>" → "[[name]]"
+        # Works for default {{ / {% / {# delimiters and any custom ones.
+        def _raw(attr, default):
+            return getattr(jinja_env, attr) if jinja_env else default
+
+        _join_parts = []
+        for delim in (
+            _raw("variable_start_string", "{{"),
+            _raw("variable_end_string", "}}"),
+            _raw("block_start_string", "{%"),
+            _raw("block_end_string", "%}"),
+            _raw("comment_start_string", "{#"),
+            _raw("comment_end_string", "#}"),
+        ):
+            if len(delim) >= 2:
+                for i in range(1, len(delim)):
+                    left = re.escape(delim[:i])
+                    right = re.escape(delim[i:])
+                    _join_parts.append(f"(?<={left})(<[^>]*>)+(?={right})")
+
+        if _join_parts:
+            src_xml = re.sub("|".join(_join_parts), "", src_xml, flags=re.DOTALL)
 
         # replace {{<some tags>jinja2 stuff<some other tags>}} by {{jinja2 stuff}}
         # same thing with {% ... %} and {# #}
@@ -103,12 +147,14 @@ def striptags(m):
                 "</w:t>.*?(<w:t>|<w:t [^>]*>)", "", m.group(0), flags=re.DOTALL
             )
 
-        src_xml = re.sub(
-            r"{%(?:(?!%}).)*|{#(?:(?!#}).)*|{{(?:(?!}}).)*",
-            striptags,
-            src_xml,
-            flags=re.DOTALL,
-        )
+        tag_pat = _tag_union()
+        if tag_pat:
+            src_xml = re.sub(
+                tag_pat,
+                striptags,
+                src_xml,
+                flags=re.DOTALL,
+            )
 
         # manage table cell colspan
         def colspan(m):
@@ -286,10 +332,9 @@ def without_gridspan(m2):
             flags=re.DOTALL,
         )
 
-        def clean_tags(m):
+        def _clean_inner(text):
             return (
-                m.group(0)
-                .replace(r"&#8216;", "'")
+                text.replace("&#8216;", "'")
                 .replace("&lt;", "<")
                 .replace("&gt;", ">")
                 .replace("“", '"')
@@ -298,7 +343,18 @@ def clean_tags(m):
                 .replace("’", "'")
             )
 
-        src_xml = re.sub(r"(?<=\{[\{%])(.*?)(?=[\}%]})", clean_tags, src_xml)
+        # Build a dynamic pattern to match content *inside* any Jinja2 tag
+        # (between start and end delimiters) and apply HTML entity cleanup.
+        # Uses capture groups to preserve delimiter boundaries since
+        # lookbehind/lookahead widths can vary with custom delimiters.
+        clean_start = f"({vo}|{bo}|{co})"
+        clean_end = f"({vc}|{bc}|{cc})"
+        src_xml = re.sub(
+            clean_start + r"(.*?)" + clean_end,
+            lambda m: m.group(1) + _clean_inner(m.group(2)) + m.group(3),
+            src_xml,
+            flags=re.DOTALL,
+        )
 
         return src_xml
 
@@ -372,7 +428,8 @@ def render_footnotes(
                     xml = self.patch_xml(
                         part.blob.decode("utf-8")
                         if isinstance(part.blob, bytes)
-                        else part.blob
+                        else part.blob,
+                        jinja_env,
                     )
                     xml = self.render_xml_part(xml, part, context, jinja_env)
                     part._blob = xml.encode("utf-8")
@@ -432,7 +489,7 @@ def resolve_paragraph(m):
 
     def build_xml(self, context, jinja_env=None):
         xml = self.get_xml()
-        xml = self.patch_xml(xml)
+        xml = self.patch_xml(xml, jinja_env)
         xml = self.render_xml_part(xml, self.docx._part, context, jinja_env)
         return xml
 
@@ -459,7 +516,7 @@ def build_headers_footers_xml(self, context, uri, jinja_env=None):
         for relKey, part in self.get_headers_footers(uri):
             xml = self.get_part_xml(part)
             encoding = self.get_headers_footers_encoding(xml)
-            xml = self.patch_xml(xml)
+            xml = self.patch_xml(xml, jinja_env)
             xml = self.render_xml_part(xml, part, context, jinja_env)
             yield relKey, xml.encode(encoding)
 
@@ -901,14 +958,14 @@ def get_undeclared_template_variables(
 
         # Get XML from the temporary document
         xml = self.xml_to_string(temp_doc._element.body)
-        xml = self.patch_xml(xml)
+        xml = self.patch_xml(xml, jinja_env)
 
         # Add headers and footers
         for uri in [self.HEADER_URI, self.FOOTER_URI]:
             for relKey, val in temp_doc._part.rels.items():
                 if (val.reltype == uri) and (val.target_part.blob):
                     _xml = self.xml_to_string(parse_xml(val.target_part.blob))
-                    xml += self.patch_xml(_xml)
+                    xml += self.patch_xml(_xml, jinja_env)
 
         if jinja_env:
             env = jinja_env
diff --git a/tests/custom_delimiters.py b/tests/custom_delimiters.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3d7a1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/custom_delimiters.py
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+"""Test that custom Jinja2 delimiters work with patch_xml.
+
+This verifies that patch_xml properly strips XML tags from inside
+user-configured Jinja2 blocks when using non-default delimiters
+(like single braces {} instead of double braces {{}}).
+"""
+import sys
+import os
+sys.path.insert(0, os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), ".."))
+
+from docxtpl import DocxTemplate  # noqa: E402
+from jinja2 import Environment  # noqa: E402
+import zipfile  # noqa: E402
+import re  # noqa: E402
+
+TEMPLATE = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),
+                        "templates", "custom_delimiters_tpl.docx")
+OUTPUT = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),
+                      "output", "custom_delimiters.docx")
+
+
+def _get_text_from_docx(path):
+    """Extract plain text from a docx file for assertion."""
+    with zipfile.ZipFile(path, "r") as z:
+        xml = z.read("word/document.xml").decode("utf-8")
+    return re.sub(r"<[^>]+>", "", xml)
+
+
+def test_custom_delimiters():
+    """Custom { } delimiters should render correctly even when
+    variables are split across multiple XML runs."""
+    tpl = DocxTemplate(TEMPLATE)
+    jinja_env = Environment(
+        variable_start_string="{",
+        variable_end_string="}",
+    )
+    tpl.render({"name": "Alice", "score": "95"}, jinja_env)
+    tpl.save(OUTPUT)
+
+    text = _get_text_from_docx(OUTPUT)
+    print("Rendered text:", repr(text))
+
+    # Both variables should be substituted
+    assert "{name}" not in text, "Variable {name} was not rendered!"
+    assert "{score}" not in text, "Variable {score} was not rendered!"
+    assert "Alice" in text, "Name should appear in output"
+    assert "95" in text, "Score should appear in output"
+
+    # No leftover braces
+    assert "{" not in text, "Leftover { in output"
+    assert "}" not in text, "Leftover } in output"
+
+    print("✅ custom_delimiters: PASS")
+
+
+def test_default_delimiters_still_work():
+    """Default {{ }} delimiters should still work (backward compat)."""
+    import io as _io
+
+    # Create a template with default delimiters
+    default_xml = """<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
+<w:document xmlns:w="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main">
+  <w:body>
+    <w:p>
+      <w:r><w:rPr></w:rPr><w:t>Hello {{</w:t></w:r>
+      <w:r><w:rPr></w:rPr><w:t>name</w:t></w:r>
+      <w:r><w:rPr></w:rPr><w:t>}}!</w:t></w:r>
+    </w:p>
+  </w:body>
+</w:document>"""
+    buf = _io.BytesIO()
+    with zipfile.ZipFile(buf, "w", zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED) as zf:
+        zf.writestr(
+            "[Content_Types].xml",
+            '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>\n'
+            '<Types xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/'
+            'content-types">\n'
+            '  <Default Extension="rels"\n'
+            '   ContentType="application/'
+            'vnd.openxmlformats-package.relationships+xml"/>\n'
+            '  <Default Extension="xml" ContentType="application/xml"/>\n'
+            '  <Override PartName="/word/document.xml"\n'
+            '   ContentType="application/'
+            'vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.'
+            'document.main+xml"/>\n'
+            '</Types>',
+        )
+        zf.writestr(
+            "_rels/.rels",
+            '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>\n'
+            '<Relationships xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/'
+            '2006/relationships">\n'
+            '  <Relationship Id="rId1"\n'
+            '   Type="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/'
+            '2006/relationships/officeDocument"\n'
+            '   Target="word/document.xml"/>\n'
+            '</Relationships>',
+        )
+        zf.writestr("word/document.xml", default_xml)
+
+    out_default = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),
+                               "output", "custom_delimiters_default.docx")
+    tpl = DocxTemplate(buf)
+    tpl.render({"name": "Bob"})
+    tpl.save(out_default)
+
+    text = _get_text_from_docx(out_default)
+    print("Rendered text (default):", repr(text))
+    assert "Bob" in text, "Name should appear in output"
+    assert "{{" not in text, "Leftover {{ in output"
+    print("✅ default_delimiters: PASS")
+
+
+def test_double_bracket_opening_split():
+    """Regression: multi-char opening delimiter ([[) split across XML runs.
+
+    The first delimiter-joining pass must respect user-configured delimiters
+    so that "[" and "[name]]" separated by run tags are re-joined.
+    """
+    tpl = DocxTemplate(TEMPLATE)
+    env = Environment(
+        variable_start_string="[[",
+        variable_end_string="]]",
+    )
+    xml = (
+        '<w:r><w:t>[</w:t></w:r>'
+        '<w:r><w:t>[name]]</w:t></w:r>'
+    )
+    patched = tpl.patch_xml(xml, env)
+    assert "[[name]]" in patched, (
+        f"Delimiter split was not joined: {patched!r}"
+    )
+    rendered = env.from_string(patched).render(name="Alice")
+    assert "Alice" in rendered, (
+        f"Variable not rendered. patched={patched!r} rendered={rendered!r}"
+    )
+    print("✅ double_bracket_opening_split: PASS")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    test_custom_delimiters()
+    test_default_delimiters_still_work()
+    test_double_bracket_opening_split()
diff --git a/tests/templates/custom_delimiters_tpl.docx b/tests/templates/custom_delimiters_tpl.docx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3246910
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/templates/custom_delimiters_tpl.docx differ