GP & J Baker | Wild One

Wild One is a woven stripe from Kit Kemp's stripe collection for GP & J Baker. It is a cotton cloth with the stripe built into the weave rather than printed on top, so the colour goes right through and the edges of each band have a slight softness where the yarns meet. The handle is firm and dry, and it presses to a sharp line. Cotton takes dye cleanly, so the colours in the stripe stay clear rather than muddying where two bands meet.

Composition is 100 per cent cotton, 134 centimetres wide, with a 13.4 centimetre horizontal repeat and no vertical repeat, because the stripe runs the length of the cloth. GP & J Baker list it for curtains, loose and fixed upholstery and bedspreads. Two colourways: Jewel, which runs several saturated colours side by side, and Indigo/Cocoa, which is quieter and reads as a deep blue and brown ticking from a distance.

Stripes are the easiest thing to build a room on. We use this for curtains where the vertical lines add height, for loose covers on a sofa, and for dining chair seats where a woven cloth will outlast a print. It sits well with the drawn Kit Kemp prints without competing. It is the cloth we would reach for when a room needs pattern but not a subject. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

Because the stripe runs with the length, you can railroad it across a sofa back or a headboard to make the bands horizontal, which saves seams on anything over 134 centimetres wide. For curtains, cut each drop on the same stripe so the pair reads symmetrically, and keep the join in the stripe's darkest band where it will not show.

• Composition: 100% Cotton
• Width: 134 cm (52.8 in)
• Pattern repeat: 13.4 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)