GP & J Baker | Balfour Chevron

Balfour Chevron is the most tailored cloth in this part of the collection, a wool-led herringbone with a 7 centimetre chevron running across the width and almost no vertical repeat. At 41 per cent wool it has the handle you would expect from a suiting: firm, warm, slightly springy, with a matt face that takes light evenly. The chevron is broad enough to see clearly and quiet enough to use on a big piece.

The full blend is 41 per cent wool, 24 per cent cotton, 21 per cent viscose, 9 per cent linen and 5 per cent polyester, woven 137 centimetres wide and tested to 35,000 rubs, which is a solid domestic upholstery figure and covers curtains and bedspreads as well. Oatmeal is the colourway, the pale and dark yarns reading together as a warm neutral with a faint fleck of brown in it.

We would use this on a club chair or a chesterfield, on a long hall bench, or on dining chairs that need to look like furniture rather than seating. It takes a leather or a dark wood frame well, and it is one of the few cloths here that looks right with tweed cushions and a wool rug. In a study it makes an honest pair of curtains. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

Set the chevron out before you cut: on a sofa it should run straight across the inside back and the seat, centred on the piece rather than on the cloth. A three-seat sofa takes around 17 metres with matching. Wool blends benefit from a little humidity when they are worked, so let the cloth relax in the workroom overnight; do not press the chevron flat, or the fleck will shine.

• Composition: 41% wool, 24% cotton, 21% viscose, 9% linen, 5% polyester
• Width: 137 cm (54 in)
• Pattern repeat: 1 cm vertical, 7 cm horizontal
• Abrasion resistance: 35,000 rubs (Martindale)
• Care: Dry clean only; do not wash, bleach or iron
• Collection: Essential Colour III, GP & J Baker
• Colourways: 1 (Oatmeal)