Mark Alexander | Gaia Fabric

Gaia is a textured plain built on linen and wool, with a little polyamide and cotton in the mix to hold it together under use. The linen keeps the surface dry and gives the yarn its irregularity; the wool gives it body and recovery. There is no pattern, but the cloth is far from flat: the weave breaks the colour into fine light and dark threads, so a sofa upholstered in it reads as a texture from across a room rather than as a block.

It is woven from 47 per cent linen, 38 per cent wool, 8 per cent polyamide and 7 per cent cotton at a 138 centimetre width, with no repeat. The Martindale figure is 100,000 rubs, severe contract, which is unusual for a cloth with this much linen in it. There are 23 colourways: Snow, Plaster and Natural at the pale end; Beech, Moccasin and Clay through the warm middle; Forest, Woodland and Peacock for green and blue; Ink, Indigo and Chestnut for depth.

We use it as a whole-room cloth. A large sofa, a pair of armchairs and a window seat can all take it in one shade without the room going dull, because the texture keeps things moving. It also makes an honest full-length curtain with a good interlining. Put it against plain wool, a grasscloth wall and unpolished metal. Order a sample to see it in your own light.

Cut every piece in the same direction and from one roll where you can, since a linen and wool blend will shade under raking light. Ask for a firm interlining on curtains, and let the panels hang before the hems are levelled, because the cloth will drop a little. For upholstery it takes a tight cover well but wants a generous seam allowance, and the corners are better eased than clipped hard.