Mark Alexander | Vintage

Vintage is a washed plain linen with a slightly irregular surface. The yarn carries enough variation in it that the cloth reads as cloth rather than as a flat field of colour, and it has been finished to take the crispness out, so it falls in soft, broad folds and creases the way linen is meant to. Held up to a window it shows a faint slub through the weave. In a room it behaves as a background, which is what we normally want a plain to do.

It is 100 per cent linen at a 148 centimetre width, with no pattern repeat to plan around, and it is rated at 25,000 Martindale rubs, general domestic. That makes it a curtain and light upholstery cloth rather than a hard-working seat cover. There are nine colourways. Snow and Plaster are the palest, Fossil and Silverbirch sit in the warm middle, Carbon Grey and Gunmetal take it darker, and Indigo is the one strong colour in the run, with Mist and Storm filling the cool greys between.

We use Vintage for full-length curtains in bedrooms and quieter sitting rooms, where the weight of the linen gives a proper vertical fall. It also makes a good loose cover for a slipper chair or the front of a headboard, and we have used Snow for lightweight panels layered behind a heavier curtain. Plaster against limewashed plaster is a pairing we keep coming back to. Order a sample to see it in your own light.

The 148 centimetre width means most standard windows need fewer widths joined, and with no repeat there is nothing to match across a seam, so join selvedge to selvedge and the line disappears into the weave. Linen moves with humidity, so we ask the curtain-maker to hang the panels for a few days before the final hem is turned. Interline if you want the folds soft and the light stopped fully, and choose cotton bump over a synthetic.

• Composition: 100% LI
• Width: 148 cm
• Martindale: 25,000 rubs, general domestic
• Suitable for: Curtains, blinds, light upholstery, loose covers
• Care: Dry clean recommended
• Collection: Plainly III, Mark Alexander
• Colourways: 9 (Carbon Grey, Plaster, Silverbirch, Fossil, Mist, Storm, Gunmetal, Snow, Indigo)