Checkmate is George & Minnie's gingham, a small woven cotton check with a 6.5 centimetre repeat that puts it in tablecloth and bed-hanging territory. The colour is woven in rather than printed on, so the squares have the slightly softened, three-tone look a true gingham has, where two colours cross to make a third. It is the cloth this collection leans on to calm everything else down, and it earns its place on its own as well.
The cloth is 100 per cent cotton, 134 centimetres wide, with a 6.5 centimetre repeat in both directions, and the mill rates it for curtains, loose and fixed upholstery and bedspreads. There are 11 colourways in all, from Barley, Blush and Chalky Blue at the pale end to Raspberry, Ink and Emerald with more depth; Terracotta and Daffodil are the warm ones, and Sage is the colour we would put with almost any of the florals. The same check exists as a wallpaper in the Minnie Prints Wallpapers group.
We use Checkmate for kitchen curtains and cafe blinds, for a set of dining chair seats, for bed valances and pillow borders under a bigger print, and for the inside of a four-poster, where a small check is easier to live with than a floral. It is the natural partner to the Volume One prints and to Rosie or Wild Meadow wallpaper. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.
A small gingham is forgiving on quantity but unforgiving on straightness, so ask the workroom to cut on the grain and keep the check square on every panel and seat. Match the check across seams; with a 6.5 centimetre repeat the extra allowance per drop is negligible. Have the cloth pre-shrunk or dry cleaned before making up anything that will be laundered, and line curtains with a plain cotton to stop the light showing through the pale squares.
-
Composition: 100% cotton
-
Width: 134 cm (53 in)
-
Pattern repeat: 6.5 cm vertical, 6.5 cm horizontal
-
Suitable for: Curtains, loose and fixed upholstery, bedspreads
-
Care: Professional dry clean only; do not wash, bleach or iron
-
Collection: Checks & Stripes, George & Minnie
-
Colourways: 11 (Barley, Walnut, Blush, Terracotta, Raspberry, Periwinkle, Ink, Chalky Blue, Emerald, Sage, Daffodil)
