Casamance | Arthur's Seat Fabric

Arthur's Seat is the plain of the Scotia collection: a wool cloth with a dry, dense, lightly felted surface and the depth of colour that only wool takes. It is named for the hill above Edinburgh, and the fabric behaves like a good tweed jacket, warm, matt and forgiving of use. With 45 colours it is the cloth we use to hold a scheme together, tying the checks and stripes of Highlands, Scotia and Elgin back to a single colour on the biggest piece in the room.

The composition is 70 per cent recycled wool, 25 per cent polyamide and 5 per cent other fibres, woven in Italy at 150 centimetres wide and 370 grams per square metre, with a free match and no repeat. The 45 colourways run from Cream, Vanilla and Pearl through Sand, Pebble, Mouse and Bear to the greens, Pistache, Olive, Garden Peas and Hunter Green, the blues, Aqua, Cobalt and Petrole, and the reds and pinks, Cherry, Raspberry, Wine and Rose Poudre. Choose by daylight; wool shifts a good deal between morning and evening.

We use it on sofas and armchairs, on window seats and on dining chairs, and as curtains in a study or a snug where the wool adds warmth and quiet. It is also a very good blind cloth. Pair a plain sofa in Arthur's Seat with chairs in the Highlands tartan or the Scotia check in a matching colour, and the room settles at once. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

A making-up note: with no repeat there is no matching waste, but keep the warp running the same way on all panels so the surface reads evenly under raking light. Wool takes a bump interlining well; let curtains hang for a few days before the final hem. On upholstery, ask for a fine needle and a tight stitch, as wool will show needle holes if a seam has to be unpicked.