Mark Alexander | Mode

Mode is a linen with a small amount of polyamide worked through it, and the difference that makes is mostly in how it behaves rather than in how it looks. The surface is matt and dry, with the faint irregularity you expect from a linen yarn: slubs, a little variation in thickness, nothing that reads as pattern. The polyamide gives it resilience, so it recovers from a crease and holds a tailored shape better than a pure linen of the same weight would.

Composition is 90% linen with 10% polyamide, woven at 138 centimetres, with no pattern repeat. Martindale is 25,000 rubs, general domestic, which puts it comfortably into everyday upholstery as well as curtains. Four colourways, all quiet: Snow, the palest and coolest; Plaster, a warm off-white; Fossil, a mid stone; and Driftwood, greyer and a shade deeper. They sit in one family, so two of them in a room will read as tone rather than as contrast.

We would use Mode on a sofa or a pair of armchairs that need to disappear a little, and on simple headed curtains where the matt surface keeps the window calm. It is a good cloth for a bedroom and a sensible one for a room that takes strong light, since there is no sheen in it to flare. Pair it with a hemp or grasscloth wall and one textured cushion. Order a sample to see it in your own light.

For upholstery, ask the workroom to cut with the grain running consistently, because linen shows a direction in raking light and mixing it up on a single seat is visible once the piece is in the room. There is no repeat, so quantities are straightforward. For curtains we would interline: the cloth hangs well on its own, but interlining softens the fold and keeps it from creasing across the width where it is caught back.

• Composition: 90% LI 10% PA (linen, polyamide)
• Width: 138 cm
• Pattern repeat: None — plain
• Martindale: 25,000 rubs — general domestic
• Suitable for: Curtains, blinds, upholstery
• Care: Dry clean recommended
• Collection: Mode, Mark Alexander
• Colourways: 4 (Driftwood, Fossil, Snow, Plaster)