de Le Cuona | Naturally Organic – Cashew

Naturally Organic is a heavyweight linen with a slubbed, handwoven look, and the cloth keeps the character of the yarn rather than smoothing it away. Cashew is a soft, warm neutral, a little deeper than cream and a little paler than camel. Up close you can see the small variations in thickness along the weft, and from across a room those variations read as a gentle, even texture. The hand is firm and dry, and it feels like a cloth meant for use rather than for show.

The composition is 95% linen and 5% polyamide, and the cloth is 135 cm wide. It is a plain cloth, so there is no pattern repeat to match. The Martindale is 77,000 rubs, which is a very high figure and makes this one of the more practical linens we can suggest for upholstery that sees daily use. It is sold by the half metre, which suits anyone building a scheme slowly and wanting to see a length against their own walls and floors before committing to a full order.

We tend to use Cashew for sofas and deep-seated armchairs where a family actually sits, and for curtains in bedrooms and living rooms where we want fullness without any visual weight. It also works for loose covers on dining chairs, as it will take regular washing or cleaning and be none the worse for it. We would pair it with off-white walls, pale oak, and a few darker accents such as a charcoal throw or a bronze lamp base, so the neutral does not tip into flat.

The cloth is substantial, so we would ask the upholsterer to use a good quality interlining under curtains and to allow a generous return on the leading edge. When making up sofa covers, check that all panels run in the same direction, as the slub can catch the light differently if turned. Linen shrinks and relaxes a little, so we would allow a small extra amount for hems, and for curtains order a little more than the calculated quantity to cover any variation.