Home Help: 22 March
Interior-decorating choices are often influenced by the weather. In the recent cold spell, I longed to be in a room, sitting on a velvet or chenille sofa, surrounded by red or chocolate walls. Now there is spring in the air, even for a few days, I am thinking immediately of pale eau de nil paint and soft, natural linens.
This spring, fabric designers have come up with new stripe designs that will feel warm in winter and cool in summer. These stripes aren’t the typical ones used on deckchairs, but wide stripes in smart colours such as charcoal and brown.
Cabbages & Roses has many glorious rose prints in pretty, delicate colours, but also sells beautiful soft linen stripes in natural colours that complement and enhance the florals. These look just as good used horizontally. The company also has a selection of coloured, smart stripes in pink and blue that come in cotton, linen and cotton canvas for outside. Clarke & Clarke has added little extra details to its stripes. The Boutique range has the coloured band in herringbone and chevrons in neutral, as well as in fruity colours. These are also being printed on satin.
Jim Thompson at Fox Linton has gone a step further by making the stripe jagged and blurred. The colours look as if they have just been sloshed on with a broad paintbrush.
For sewing enthusiasts, Kaffe Fassett’s new book, Kaffe Fassett Quilts, Shots And Stripes (Abrams, £21.99), shows how to arrange striped fabrics in an interesting way to create napkins, tablecloths and quilts. Fassett will be at Topping & Co Booksellers in Bath on 18 April to give a talk that will inspire as well as advise: 01225-428111, www.toppingbooks.co.uk
1 Three Inch Stripe Blue (large cushion), £38 per metre, Cabbages & Roses: 020-7352 7333, www.cabbagesandroses.com
2 Boutique collection, from £32 per metre, Clarke & Clarke: 01706-242010, www.clarke-clarke.co.uk
3 Zabadani, from Grand Paisley collection, £78 per metre, Jim Thompson at Fox Linton: 020-7368 7700, www.foxlinton.com
Email design enquiries to Hugh St Clair at homehelp@lady.co.uk
This spring, fabric designers have come up with new stripe designs that will feel warm in winter and cool in summer. These stripes aren’t the typical ones used on deckchairs, but wide stripes in smart colours such as charcoal and brown.
Cabbages & Roses has many glorious rose prints in pretty, delicate colours, but also sells beautiful soft linen stripes in natural colours that complement and enhance the florals. These look just as good used horizontally. The company also has a selection of coloured, smart stripes in pink and blue that come in cotton, linen and cotton canvas for outside. Clarke & Clarke has added little extra details to its stripes. The Boutique range has the coloured band in herringbone and chevrons in neutral, as well as in fruity colours. These are also being printed on satin.
Jim Thompson at Fox Linton has gone a step further by making the stripe jagged and blurred. The colours look as if they have just been sloshed on with a broad paintbrush.
For sewing enthusiasts, Kaffe Fassett’s new book, Kaffe Fassett Quilts, Shots And Stripes (Abrams, £21.99), shows how to arrange striped fabrics in an interesting way to create napkins, tablecloths and quilts. Fassett will be at Topping & Co Booksellers in Bath on 18 April to give a talk that will inspire as well as advise: 01225-428111, www.toppingbooks.co.uk
1 Three Inch Stripe Blue (large cushion), £38 per metre, Cabbages & Roses: 020-7352 7333, www.cabbagesandroses.com
2 Boutique collection, from £32 per metre, Clarke & Clarke: 01706-242010, www.clarke-clarke.co.uk
3 Zabadani, from Grand Paisley collection, £78 per metre, Jim Thompson at Fox Linton: 020-7368 7700, www.foxlinton.com
Email design enquiries to Hugh St Clair at homehelp@lady.co.uk