Mark Alexander | Patina Fabric

Patina is a pure linen plain, washed and finished so the cloth arrives already relaxed. There is no crispness to it. The hand is soft and slightly crumpled, and it creases the way linen does, which is the point of it rather than a drawback. The yarn is irregular enough to give the surface a fine unevenness, so the colour never sits completely flat. It is the sort of plain that looks better after a year in a room than it does on the roll.

It is 100% linen, woven at 133 centimetres, with no pattern repeat. Martindale is 25,000 rubs, general domestic, which covers curtains, blinds and everyday upholstery. There are 17 colourways, unusually deep for a plain: Snow and Plaster at the pale end, Dove and Cement through the greys, Sage and Verde in the greens, Sienna and Carnelian on the warm side, and Abyss and Indigo at the dark end. The whole run holds together.

We use Patina for curtains more than anything else, because the washed finish gives a soft, heavy fold that a crisper linen will not, and for loose covers, where the crumple is a virtue. It is a good cloth for a bedroom in one of the pale shades and for a sitting room in Sage or Cement. Put it with grasscloth, with painted joinery, with a plain wool rug. Order a sample to see it in your own light.

Linen moves with humidity, so make curtains up and let them hang for a week before the hems are finished, as a washed linen in particular will drop. For upholstery, keep the grain running the same way on every panel of a piece, since the surface shows direction in raking light. There is no repeat, so quantities are simple. Interlining is optional here, because the cloth has enough body of its own to hang properly.