Eldon Linen is GP & J Baker's plain linen, made with a small amount of nylon through it to give the cloth strength it would not otherwise have. The face is properly linen, dry, slubbed and matt, with the irregularity that comes from the fibre rather than from a finish, but it holds its shape on a frame and resists the creasing that puts people off pure linen upholstery.
Composition is 95 per cent linen and 5 per cent nylon, woven 140 centimetres wide with no pattern repeat. Abrasion is tested at 40,000 rubs on the Martindale scale, which is a general domestic rating and unusually good for a linen. There are 24 colourways, from Chalk, Marble and Ivory through Sand, Stone and Parchment to Brick, Dusky Rose, Teal, Indigo, Sage, Spruce, Grey and Graphite, a complete range rather than a handful of accents.
This is the cloth we specify most often and think about least, which is the compliment it deserves. Curtains, blinds, loose covers, headboards, bed valances, cushion backs and piping all come out of it, and with 24 colourways you can usually match a linen to a wall or a print exactly. It is also the cloth that lets one print in a room do all the work, which is usually the right way round. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.
The 140 centimetre width is wider than most of the collection, which means fewer joins on a wide curtain or a large sofa, and there is no repeat, so cutting is efficient. Linen relaxes after making up: hang curtains for a week to ten days before the hems are levelled, and ask the upholsterer to work it slightly damp so the cloth pulls tight and dries onto the frame.
-
Composition: 5% Nylon 95% Linen
-
Width: 140 cm (55.1 in)
-
Abrasion resistance: 40,000 rubs (Martindale)
-
Care: Dry clean professionally only; do not wash, bleach or iron
-
Collection: House Linens II, GP & J Baker
-
Colourways: 24 (Chalk, Marble, Ivory, Sand, Stone, Parchment, Antique, Tuscan, Brick, Dusky Rose, Plaster, Soft Blue, Teal, Denim, Indigo, Aqua, Celadon, Eucalyptus, Leaf, Sage, Spruce, Dove, Grey, Graphite)
