Rufus Stripe is a woven stripe with jute in the mix, which gives the bands a dry, slightly flecked surface and stops the cloth looking too neat. The stripe is wide enough to read clearly on a curtain but not so wide that it dominates a seat. It has a firm, honest handle, closer to a hopsack than to a ticking, and the colour sits in the yarn. It is the most textured of the stripes in this book.
Ninety per cent cotton with 10 per cent jute, 134 centimetres wide, with a horizontal repeat of 22.3 centimetres and no vertical repeat. GP & J Baker list it for curtains, loose and fixed upholstery and bedspreads. Six colourways: Parchment, Teal, Indigo, Green, Leaf and Ochre. Parchment is the near-neutral, Leaf and Green are the softer greens, and Indigo and Teal are the ones we use when the stripe needs to anchor a room.
We use it for loose covers, ottomans and window seats, and for curtains in a room that wants pattern but not print. It is a good cloth for a headboard, where the stripe can run horizontally for a change of rhythm. Pair it with a plain linen and one of the Symington prints. In a hallway it takes daily traffic without looking tired. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.
Jute-blend cloths vary slightly between pieces, so order a room's worth in a single cut. Match the bands at the seams and decide the leading-edge stripe before making up. On a headboard or a bench, railroading turns the stripe through ninety degrees and removes the join, so check the finished height against the 134 centimetre width first.
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Composition: 90% Cotton 10% Jute
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Width: 134 cm (52.64 in)
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Pattern repeat: 22.3 cm horizontal
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Care: Dry clean only
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Collection: Symington Stripes, GP & J Baker
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Colourways: 6 (Parchment, Teal, Indigo, Green, Leaf, Ochre)
