I have always wanted to recreate the linens from my grandmother’s house in Scotland and from vintage textiles I found in France. It took years of searching to discover the traditionally woven coarse linen fabric I use in my range of bedding.
I have always gravitated to natural fabrics: wool, cotton, linen. For years I lived near Ian Mankin’s iconic shop in Primrose Hill in London and loved every fabric he stocked, including a double-width linen sheeting now sadly discontinued. Ian’s natural weaves and stripes are timeless.
Working with beautiful materials has simplified my taste and complicated my life, because I am always looking for the definitive texture, or weave, or color. When I found this linen I recognized its beauty immediately, and as I work with it I appreciate its virtues more and more: easy care, relative stability, strength, straight grain, wonderful texture.
I always cut to the thread for accuracy and fold the fabric as precisely as origami before sewing so my minimal seaming is exact. I sew French seams on the horizontal for strength and neatness, and overcast raw seams. I use the selvedges whenever I can.
Gutermann thread, YKK invisible zippers, and the simplest buttons – but the search and the temptation goes on. I am thrilled to have commissioned a finer textured wide linen sheeting (which I call Smooth Linen, unless someone suggests a better name!) which will be available in January 2011. Fabric samples are available now, just ask.
