Lizzo | Bastide

Bastide is a plain, heavyweight curtain cloth from Lizzo's Les Jardins collection, a polyester-led blend with cotton and linen that looks and handles like a natural linen. The surface has a fine, even slub and a matt finish; the hand is unusually soft for a cloth with this much body, and it drapes in deep, rounded folds that stay put. It is the kind of plain we specify when a room needs weight at the window without any pattern.

The composition is 88 per cent polyester, 8 per cent cotton and 4 per cent linen, at 200 grams per square metre on a 320 centimetre width, woven to be used turned so the width becomes the drop. There is no repeat, and no Martindale rating, since it is made for curtains rather than seating. Lizzo lists it for curtains and sheers. Nine numbered colourways are offered, running through naturals and quieter tones with a few deeper numbers; order by number.

We use Bastide for full-height curtains in living rooms and bedrooms, lined for a formal hang or unlined where a softer, more casual fall is wanted, and it makes a good roman blind in a room where a curtain would be too much. It is the plain we put behind a patterned sofa or a bold wallpaper, and it pairs quietly with wool, velvet and leather. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

As the cloth is railroaded, you buy the width of the window rather than the drop: a window 3 metres wide at double fullness needs about 6 metres, and drops up to roughly 3.1 metres finished need no horizontal join. The polyester content means it is stable and holds its length, so hems can be set on the first fitting. It can be washed at 30 degrees on a mild cycle; we would still dry clean a lined curtain.

• Composition: 88% polyester, 8% cotton, 4% linen
• Width: 320 cm (126 in), railroaded
• Weight: 200 g per square metre
• Care: Gentle wash at 30°C on a mild cycle; do not bleach; low iron up to 110°C; dry clean with perchloroethylene; do not tumble dry; spinning permitted
• Collection: Les Jardins, Lizzo
• Colourways: 9 (numbered)