Mark Alexander | Veranda Beach Stripe

Veranda Beach Stripe is a woven stripe in solution-dyed acrylic, made for rooms that open onto the outside. Solution-dyed means the colour goes into the fibre before it is spun rather than onto the cloth afterwards, so it holds against strong sun in a way that a surface-dyed cloth will not. The hand is softer than most performance cloths, closer to a cotton canvas than to anything technical, and the stripe is woven in rather than printed, so it reads the same on both faces.

The composition is 100% solution-dyed acrylic, woven 144 centimetres wide, with a 12 centimetre vertical repeat across the stripe. Martindale is rated at 21,000 rubs, general domestic, which is honest for a loose-cover and cushion cloth rather than for a hard-worked sofa. Four colourways are offered: Natural and Sand at the pale end, Clay a warm earth red, and Ocean the blue. All four hold their colour outdoors, which is the whole point of the construction.

We use it on terrace seating, garden-room sofas and pool-house cushions, and on loose covers for a room that takes a lot of direct light. It also makes good curtains for a covered loggia. We would put it with teak or painted timber, a plain outdoor rug and unfussy cushions in a related plain. Order a sample to see it in your own light, as a stripe of this scale can look quite different indoors and out.

For making up, the stripe runs vertically on the roll with a 12 centimetre repeat, so centre it on every cushion face and on every cover panel and match it across seams. At 144 centimetres you can railroad it on a bench seat or a long cushion to run the stripe horizontally and avoid a join, which is often the neater answer. Acrylic sews easily, but do use a UV-stable outdoor thread or the seams will fail long before the cloth does.

• Composition: 100% SD (100% solution-dyed acrylic)
• Width: 144 cm
• Pattern repeat: 12 cm vertical
• Martindale: 21,000 rubs - general domestic
• Suitable for: Outdoor and terrace seating, cushions, loose covers, curtains
• Care: Dry clean recommended
• Collection: Veranda III, Mark Alexander
• Colourways: 4 (Clay, Ocean, Natural, Sand)