George & Minnie | Watercolour Bird

Watercolour Bird is one of the painterly prints in George & Minnie's Volume One collection: birds perched among foliage, drawn with a loose watercolour edge and printed on pure linen. The 46.5 centimetre repeat puts it at a medium scale, big enough for the birds to be characters but small enough to work on a chair. It has the charm of an old natural history plate without any of the stiffness, and it is drawn with more wit than reverence.

The cloth is 100 per cent linen, 139 centimetres wide, with a 46.5 centimetre repeat in both directions, and the mill rates it for curtains, loose and fixed upholstery and bedspreads. There are 5 colourways: Raspberry, Daffodil, Ink, Emerald and Walnut. Each is a single colour on a pale ground, so the design keeps the airy quality of a wash drawing; Raspberry and Daffodil are the cheerful ones, Ink the most classic, Emerald the most garden-like, and Walnut the softest and easiest to live with.

We tend to use Watercolour Bird for curtains in a bedroom or a study, for a pair of armchairs in a sitting room with a plain sofa, or for a bedhead and matching cushions on a plain bedspread. It pairs well with Loom Stripe on a chair seat and with Canvas wallpaper in a related colour on the walls. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

Allow one extra repeat, 46.5 centimetres, per drop for curtains and match the birds across widths so none is sliced at a seam. On chairs, ask for a bird to be centred on the inside back and another on the seat, and keep the direction upright; this is not a print to railroad. Line curtains with a cotton sateen, and let pure linen hang for a few days before the final hem is set.

• Composition: 100% linen
• Width: 139 cm (55 in)
• Pattern repeat: 46.5 cm vertical, 46.5 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: 5 (Raspberry, Daffodil, Ink, Emerald, Walnut)