de Le Cuona | Etched Paisley – Midnight

Etched Paisley in Midnight is a woollen cloth in a deep blue so dark it nearly reads as black until the light finds it. The paisley is drawn in a fine, engraved way, as though it had been scratched into the surface instead of printed on, and that gives the pattern a measured, graphic quality. It is not a busy paisley. At a distance it settles into texture, and up close it rewards a longer look, which is what we want from a cloth in a room we use every day.

Etched Paisley is 100% wool and 137 cm wide, and it is sold by the half metre. The pattern has a vertical repeat of 72 cm and a horizontal repeat of 70 cm, which is a generous scale and worth planning around. It is rated at 20,000 Martindale rubs, which is a sound figure for upholstery in regular use and comfortably more than curtains will ever need. The supplier does not give a place of manufacture for this cloth, so we have left that out rather than guess.

We would use Midnight on a pair of curtains in a library or a snug, where the dark ground makes a room feel enclosed in the best way. It also makes a good upholstered chair, a wing chair or a deep armchair, set where the pattern can be seen from across the room. Pair it with warm, mid-toned walls, a plain oatmeal or putty linen, and some old brass or dark timber. A single pattern in this depth of colour is plenty, so we would keep the rest of the scheme quiet.

With a 72 cm repeat, curtains need extra length to match the pattern across each width, so allow for it when you calculate quantities and ask your workroom to confirm the cut length. Because the cloth is sold by the half metre, round up rather than down. For upholstery, ask the upholsterer to centre the motif on the seat and back, and to cut from a single run. We would line and interline the curtains, both for weight and to keep the dark colour even.