Mulberry Home | Floral Pompadour

Floral Pompadour is a printed linen with a full, rococo-inspired bloom, drawn with more formality than the collection's looser garden florals and named for the eighteenth-century taste it borrows from. The horizontal repeat runs the full width of the cloth, so a single width carries the whole composition across it without a join, giving the print an unbroken, almost architectural quality. Linen gives the print a dry, slightly irregular surface, which keeps a formal design like this from feeling stiff, and it is one of the more tailored florals in the wider Mulberry range.

It is 100 per cent linen, 137 centimetres wide, with an 80 centimetre vertical repeat and a horizontal repeat of 137 centimetres, the full cloth width. It is recommended for curtains and both loose and fixed upholstery. There is one colourway, Spice, a warm, burnt orange on a natural linen ground that suits a room with old wood, brass or leather already in it, and which holds its own under both daylight and lamplight.

We would hang it as a single generous pair of curtains in a dining room or a library, where the formality of the pattern earns its place, or use it as a loose cover on one chair rather than a whole suite. A run of it on a pelmet with a plain fabric below is another good way to use less of it, and in a smaller room, keeping it to one blind or a single wing chair holds the formality without overwhelming the space. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

A making-up note: because the horizontal repeat matches the cloth width, joins are straightforward, but allow one full 80 centimetre repeat per drop when you calculate curtain quantities, and ask your maker to centre the main motif on the leading edge of each curtain. Pure linen should be allowed to settle before the final hem is set. Dry clean only.

• Composition: 100% linen
• Width: 137 cm (54 in)
• Pattern repeat: 80 cm vertical, 137 cm horizontal
• Suitable for: Curtains, loose upholstery, fixed upholstery
• Care: Dry clean only; do not wash, bleach or iron
• Collection: Garden Party, Mulberry Home
• Colourways: 1 (Spice)