Baker Lifestyle | Arbour

Arbour is a large printed cotton from Block Party, Baker Lifestyle’s book of hand-crafted prints, and it is drawn at the scale of a garden rather than a sprig. The repeat runs 45 centimetres down and 44 across, close to a square, so the design comes round roughly once per metre of drop and reads clearly across a whole window. It is printed on a plain cotton with a dry, matt surface, no sheen and no coating, and the colour sits in flat blocks the way a blocked print should.

The cloth is 100 per cent cotton, 134 centimetres wide, with a 45 centimetre vertical and 44 centimetre horizontal repeat. Baker Lifestyle rate it for curtains, loose and fixed upholstery and bedspreads; there is no published rub count, which is normal for the printed cottons in this book. Four colourways: Indigo, Stone, Green and Fuchsia. Indigo and Green are the ones we reach for in a main room, Stone is the quiet option for a scheme already carrying pattern, and Fuchsia is best used in small quantities.

We use Arbour on curtains before anything else, because the repeat needs height to make sense and it loses its drawing on a small cushion. It is good on a bedspread or a pair of full-length panels in a guest room, and it takes a headboard well if you centre the design. Put it with a washed linen in the palest ground shade and let the print do the talking. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

Allow a full extra repeat per drop: at 45 centimetres that is roughly half a metre added to each curtain length, and on a pair you will want them matching at the leading edges. Cotton of this weight benefits from interlining on long drops, because it hangs better and the print does not show the light through. Cut and match before committing any cloth to upholstery.

• Composition: 100% cotton
• Width: 134 cm (53 in)
• Pattern repeat: 45 cm vertical, 44 cm horizontal
• Care: Professional dry clean only; do not wash, bleach or iron
• Collection: Block Party, Baker Lifestyle
• Colourways: 4 (Indigo, Stone, Green, Fuchsia)

• 100% Cotton