GP & J Baker | Backdrop

Backdrop is an embroidered cloth from Kit Kemp's collection with GP & J Baker. The design is worked in thread onto a linen-rich ground, so it has real relief, and you can feel the stitching under your hand as the pattern shifts with the light moving across it. The cloth is firm without being heavy and hangs in clean, flat folds. The ground itself is a loose, open weave, so the embroidery has something to bite into and the whole cloth keeps a slightly handmade look rather than a machine-finished one.

It is 66 per cent linen and 34 per cent polyester, 134 centimetres wide, with a 32 centimetre vertical and 67 centimetre horizontal repeat, which is half the cloth width. GP & J Baker list it for curtains and bedspreads rather than upholstery. Two colourways: Fuchsia/Blue, which is the brighter and more graphic, and Coral/Sage, which is softer and reads almost as a natural cloth from a distance.

We use embroideries like this where they can be seen flat and still: full-length curtains, a bedspread, a deep pelmet, or large cushions on a plain bed. They reward a simple heading, a pinch pleat or a flat Roman blind, rather than anything gathered. Against it, a plain in the ground colour and one narrow woven stripe will finish a bedroom without adding another pattern. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

Tell the workroom it is an embroidery before they start. Seams should fall between motifs, which the half-width repeat makes easy, and the cloth should be pressed from the reverse with steam only, never ironed onto the stitching. A cotton lining stops the back of the embroidery abrading, and interlining will give the folds more weight if the window is tall.

• Composition: 66% Linen 34% Polyester
• Width: 134 cm (52.8 in)
• Pattern repeat: 32 cm vertical, 67 cm horizontal
• Care: Dry clean professionally only; do not wash, bleach or iron
• Collection: Kit Kemp Prints & Embroideries, GP & J Baker
• Colourways: 2 (Fuchsia/Blue, Coral/Sage)