de Le Cuona | Pure Equator – Sandstorm

Pure Equator is a heavier organic linen with the slightly irregular, slubbed surface that good linen should have. Sandstorm is a warm, sandy beige with a little grey in it, so it never turns yellow or pink in a north-facing room. The hand is dry and substantial rather than crisp, and it softens with use and washing. At a distance it reads as a plain, flat neutral, and up close you see the slub and the fine variation in the yarn that give it depth.

The cloth is 100% organic linen, 140 cm wide, and sold by the half metre. There is a vertical repeat of 3 cm, which is small enough to be little more than a note for the workroom, though it is worth mentioning when you place an order. It is rated at 30,000 Martindale rubs, which is a heavy-duty figure and comfortably in the range for regular domestic upholstery. It is suitable for both curtains and upholstery, which is rarer than it sounds for a linen of this weight.

We would use Sandstorm for full-length curtains in a living room or bedroom, where it filters daylight and hangs with a quiet, relaxed fall. It also makes a very good loose cover or fixed upholstery for a sofa or a pair of armchairs, especially in a room with plenty of natural light. For pairing, we like it with off-white plaster walls, darker chocolate or ink-blue linen cushions, and rattan, limed oak and plain wool rugs.

Linen moves, so ask the workroom to allow for a small amount of shrinkage and to pre-wash or steam as appropriate for the finished use. Curtains in a cloth this weight benefit from a proper interlining and generous headings, and we would line them in a plain cotton for stability. Allow for the 3 cm repeat when working out quantities, and order everything for one scheme at the same time so the colour matches across all pieces.