de Le Cuona | Cashmere Velvet – Amethyst

Cashmere Velvet is a plain pile cloth with a soft, slightly brushed hand, closer to a suede than to the glossy, slippery velvets that tend to dominate the category. The pile is dense and short, and it catches light in a muted way, so the colour appears to shift a little as you move around it rather than flashing. Amethyst is a dusty, smoky purple with grey underneath, never sweet or bright. In a room it behaves like a deep neutral, adding weight and warmth without any pattern to compete with.

The cloth is 78% cotton, 11% polyester and 11% wool, which accounts for the dry, matte feel. It is 145 cm wide and sold by the half metre, so you can order exactly what a cushion or a single chair needs. At 100,000 Martindale rubs it is well beyond the requirement for heavy domestic use, and it is comfortably robust enough for a sofa that is sat on every day. The code is CVE5. We have no repeat to report, as this is a plain.

We tend to use it on a deep-seated sofa or a pair of club chairs in a library or sitting room, where the colour can be read as a quiet shadow rather than a statement. It also makes a very good interlined curtain, hanging in heavy, rounded folds. We would put it against oatmeal linen, warm greys and aged brass, or set it beside a deeper aubergine or a muted green for a layered, low-contrast scheme.

For making up, velvet has a nap, so every piece must be cut with the pile running in the same direction, usually downwards on curtains and upholstery, or the colour will look uneven. Tell your workroom this at the outset and allow a little extra for cutting. For curtains we would interline them to protect the pile from sun and to add body, and we would hang them on a sturdy track or pole. Ask for a sample length before committing, as we always recommend.