GP & J Baker | Tight Rope

Tight Rope is the narrowest of Kit Kemp's woven stripes for GP & J Baker, a 9.4 centimetre band repeated straight up the cloth with no vertical movement at all. Woven in cotton, the colour is in the yarn and the surface is matt and even. From a distance the stripe reads almost as a texture, which makes it one of the easier patterns in the collection to live with. A stripe this narrow is also forgiving in a small room, where a wide band would keep drawing the eye to the corners.

Composition is 100 per cent cotton, 133 centimetres wide, with a 9.4 centimetre horizontal repeat and no vertical repeat. GP & J Baker list it for curtains, loose and fixed upholstery and bedspreads. Two colourways: Jewel, which puts several of the collection's colours into a narrow band, and Indigo/Cocoa, which is deep blue against warm brown and behaves as a dark neutral.

Narrow stripes are the workhorses of a scheme. We use this for loose covers, for dining chair seats and backs, for the inside of a curtain as a contrast lining, and for piping on plain upholstery. It will sit under any of the Kit Kemp prints without argument. Two of these in different colourways will sit happily in the same scheme. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

With no vertical repeat there is nothing to match up the drop, which makes it economical, and you only need to start each curtain on the same band. It railroads well, so a sofa back or a long bench cushion can be cut in one piece with the stripe running horizontally. Cut piping on the bias and the stripe will come out as a candy twist.

• Composition: 100% Cotton
• Width: 133 cm (52.4 in)
• Pattern repeat: 9.4 cm horizontal
• Care: Dry clean professionally only; do not wash, bleach or iron
• Collection: Kit Kemp Stripes, GP & J Baker
• Colourways: 2 (Jewel, Indigo/Cocoa)