Minnie Check is the smallest check in George & Minnie's Checks & Stripes collection: a yarn-dyed gingham woven in cotton with a square just 1 centimetre across, a colour crossed with white. It is the check of summer dresses and Provencal kitchens, and at this scale it does something useful in a room: from a few paces it reads as a soft, textured mid-tone, and only up close does it declare itself as a check.
The cloth is 100 per cent cotton, 134 centimetres wide, with a 1 centimetre repeat in both directions. The supplier rates it for curtains and bedspreads rather than upholstery, so treat it as a lighter, drapery-weight gingham. There are 11 colourways, including Barley, Blush, Periwinkle, Emerald and Daffodil, dyed to the same references as the rest of the collection, so the Sage check matches the Sage stripe and the Sage prints exactly.
We use it for curtains in a bedroom or a bathroom, for a bedspread or a bed valance under one of the Volume One florals, for cushions, and for the lining of a curtain in a busier print, where a flash of gingham at the leading edge is a nice thing to see. It is also very good gathered on a wire under a sink or across a cupboard front. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.
With a 1 centimetre check, matching is a matter of keeping the cloth on grain; cut to a thread and the seams disappear. It wants a lining, and if the curtains are full length an interlining will give a light cotton the body it lacks on its own. Allow for a little shrinkage by asking your workroom to dry clean the cloth before making up, or at least to leave a generous hem that can be let down later.
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Composition: 100% cotton
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Width: 134 cm (53 in)
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Pattern repeat: 1 cm vertical, 1 cm horizontal
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Suitable for: Curtains, bedspreads
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Care: Professional dry clean only
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Collection: Checks & Stripes, George & Minnie
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Colourways: 11 (Barley, Walnut, Blush, Terracotta, Raspberry, Periwinkle, Ink, Chalky Blue, Emerald, Sage, Daffodil)
