George & Minnie | Mythical Trail

Mythical Trail is the largest and most decorative print in George & Minnie's Volume One collection, a winding trail of foliage with fanciful creatures among the leaves, drawn in the brand's London studio with a nod to chinoiserie and printed on a pure linen. The 90 centimetre repeat is a proper curtain scale, and the design needs a full drop to be read the way it was drawn. On linen the print has a soft, slightly chalky surface that suits the storybook mood.

The cloth is 100 per cent linen, 139 centimetres wide, with a 90 centimetre vertical and 69.5 centimetre horizontal repeat, and the mill rates it for curtains, loose and fixed upholstery and bedspreads. There are 4 colourways: Teal, Ink, Emerald and Walnut/Emerald. Teal and Emerald are the fresh, garden-ish ones; Ink gives the trail a night-time depth, and Walnut/Emerald is the warmest and the best with old brown furniture. The same design is printed as a wallpaper.

We would use Mythical Trail for full-length curtains in a dining room or a guest bedroom, for a headboard tall enough to show a whole repeat, or on a single armchair in a room where the walls are plain. It looks well against a woven check such as George Check, and if you want the full effect, the matching paper on the walls with the linen at the window is a very George & Minnie room. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

With a 90 centimetre repeat, allow one extra repeat per drop and expect some offcut; ask the workroom to place a full creature or bloom at eye level rather than letting the cut fall where it may. Pure linen moves with humidity, so curtains should be lined and ideally interlined, and it is worth letting the made-up curtains hang for a few days before the final hem is set. It is not a cloth to railroad.

• Composition: 100% linen
• Width: 139 cm (55 in)
• Pattern repeat: 90 cm vertical, 69.5 cm horizontal
• Suitable for: Curtains, loose and fixed upholstery, bedspreads
• Care: Professional dry clean only; do not wash, bleach or iron
• Collection: Volume One, George & Minnie
• Colourways: 4 (Teal, Ink, Emerald, Walnut/Emerald)