Mulberry Home | Shoreham Stripe

Shoreham Stripe is the narrowest of the collection's coastal stripes, a fine, even line printed down a plain cotton ground with barely three centimetres between one band and the next. At this scale it behaves almost like a ticking, giving a room the quiet backbone of a stripe without the bulk, and it takes its name, like the rest of Westerly Stripes, from a town on the English south coast. The hand is dry and smooth, and it presses and cuts cleanly.

The cloth is 100 per cent cotton, 134 centimetres wide, with the stripe repeating every 3 centimetres across the width; there is no vertical repeat, so it runs the length of the piece uninterrupted. It is recommended for curtains, loose and fixed upholstery and bedspreads, which makes it a genuinely useful cloth rather than a curtains-only one. There is a single colourway, Indigo, a deep, ink-toned blue on natural that behaves as a neutral once it is in a room, sitting equally well with brass, dark timber or a painted stair.

We reach for a fine stripe like this on the outside back and arms of a sofa whose front is in one of Mulberry's florals, on a set of dining chairs, or as an unlined summer curtain in a hall where a heavier pattern would feel wrong. It also makes a smart Roman blind in a kitchen, and a neat bound edge on a plain linen curtain. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

A making-up note: because the repeat is so fine, estimate quantities much as you would for a plain, but ask your maker to cut on the stripe rather than the selvedge, since a narrow line shows the smallest wander. On upholstery, keep the stripe running vertically and centred on the seat and inside back. It must be dry cleaned, and kept away from a kitchen sink or a bar.

• Composition: 100% cotton
• Width: 134 cm (53 in)
• Pattern repeat: 3 cm horizontal
• Suitable for: Curtains, loose upholstery, fixed upholstery, bedspreads
• Care: Dry clean only; do not wash, bleach or iron
• Collection: Westerly Stripes, Mulberry Home
• Colourways: 1 (Indigo)