GP & J Baker | Lamont

Lamont is a plain cloth with a cotton-rich body and a fine, even surface, the kind of weave you reach for when a room already has enough going on. There is no pattern and no obvious texture to catch the light, just a dense, slightly dry face that takes colour deeply and holds a fold well. It is heavier in the hand than the viscose plains in the same collection, which makes it the more practical choice for anything that gets sat on.

Composition is 59 per cent cotton, 21 per cent viscose, 13 per cent linen and 7 per cent polyester, woven 137 centimetres wide with no repeat to match, and rated at 28,000 rubs on the Martindale test. The colourway here is Aqua, a soft green-blue that reads cooler in north light and greener in the afternoon, which is worth testing against your own walls before you commit to a large piece.

We use plains like this for the big, quiet pieces: a sofa that needs to disappear, loose covers on dining chairs, a full-length curtain in a bedroom where a pattern would be wearing. It is also a sensible cushion back behind a more expensive front. Put it with unbleached linen, pale oak and a warm white paint, or against a patterned wallpaper as the still element. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

With no repeat there is nothing to match, so the yardage is simply the run: a two-seat sofa takes roughly 12 to 14 metres, a loose-covered dining chair about a metre and a half. At 137 centimetres the cloth is too narrow to railroad a long sofa back in one piece, so plan a seam at the deck or behind the cushions rather than across the face. For curtains, interline to stop light bleaching one side of the drop.

• Composition: 59% cotton, 21% viscose, 13% linen, 7% polyester
• Width: 137 cm (54 in)
• Abrasion resistance: 28,000 rubs (Martindale)
• Care: Dry clean only; do not wash, bleach or iron
• Collection: Essential Colour III, GP & J Baker
• Colourways: 1 (Aqua)