Lee Jofa | Toponas Print

Toponas Print is a printed cloth in cotton and linen, and the mix gives it a dry, honest handle that suits a pattern you want to live with every day. The linen adds a slight irregularity to the surface, which takes the edge off the print and stops it looking too crisp. The scale is medium, large enough to read across a room and small enough to work on a single chair. We find prints like this are at their best when the cloth has some texture of its own.

The cloth is 53.12 in (134.92 cm) wide, which is a generous width for a printed fabric. The vertical repeat is 19.5 in (49.53 cm) and the horizontal repeat is 17.7 in (44.96 cm), so the pattern repeats a little more often down the cloth than across it. The composition is 54% cotton and 46% linen. No Martindale figure is given, so we would use it for curtains, covers and cushions first, and ask us about upholstery if you want it on a seat that is used every day.

We would make it into curtains for a living room or a bedroom, lined and hung loosely so the cloth keeps its natural texture. It also works well as a loose cover on a deep armchair or a small sofa, where cotton and linen soften with washing and use, and as a covered headboard. For a pairing, we would set it with a plain linen in a tone taken from the print, and a stripe or a small check on the cushions to give the eye somewhere to rest.

With a 19.5 in (49.53 cm) repeat, match the pattern at each seam and allow one extra repeat per drop when you work out quantities. Linen blends can shrink or relax, so we would have the workroom pre-wash or steam the cloth and allow for it in the hem. Line the curtains to protect the print from sun, and for loose covers ask the maker to centre a full motif on the seat back so it reads cleanly.