Green Stripe Linen Tea Towel

The Dark Green is the deep, quiet one — a bottle-green stripe on a soft oatmeal ground, the colour that grounds a kitchen rather than shouts across it.

It is the towel you reach for without thinking and still notice years on. The open linen weave drinks up water and leaves glasses clear and bright, with none of the lint a printed towel sheds. Hang it by the range or the Aga, fold it over the oven door, set it by the sink — it settles in and stays handsome.

Woven, never printed, so the stripe is part of the cloth. Both sides are finished — a crisp stripe on the front, a softer echo on the reverse — so there is no wrong side. Steam-softened, with neatly overlocked edges.

This is the green you keep, and the one you buy a second of when the first becomes a favourite.

Key details

• Linen and cotton blend, 325gsm, woven (never printed)
• Reversible — finished both sides, no wrong side
• Size: [70 × 45cm as it arrives, settling to about 60 × 44cm after the first wash — pending Amanda]
• Designed by Maison Elhoria, woven in Europe exclusively for us, cut and sewn in Yorkshire, England

Looking after it This is real, untreated cloth, woven in its loom state and never pre-shrunk. It draws in by roughly a tenth on the first wash, mostly in the length, then settles. That is the mark of traditional linen, not a fault. Wash warm at 40°C first, then up to 60°C after, and line dry.

Common questions

• Will it shrink? Yes, about 12% on the length, as it is loom state, on the first wash — , mostly in length. It is woven undressed and never pre-shrunk, which is why it relaxes into its settled size and then stays put.

• Why does the fabric shrink when I wash it?

  Because it is made the traditional way. The Linen Stripe cloth is woven loomstate — straight from the loom, not pre-shrunk or chemically treated to hold a fixed size. It is close to its natural state, the way woven cloth has always been made.

  On its first wash it settles and shrinks — around 12% in length and about 3% across the width. This is not a fault. It is the yarns contracting naturally on first contact with water, falling into place for good, exactly as good natural linen and cotton always have.

  So before you use a piece for the first time, wash it at 40°C and let it dry. It comes back a little smaller, noticeably softer, with its handle settled and its character fully its own. Our table linens are cut generously to allow for this, so they reach their proper size after that first wash.

  If you are buying fabric by the metre to make something to precise measurements, do allow for that first-wash shrinkage in your calculations, or simply wash the cloth before you measure and cut.

• Is it good for drying glasses? Yes. The open linen weave is absorbent and lint-free, so glassware comes up clear with no fluff left behind.
• Where is it made? Designed by Maison Elhoria and woven in Europe exclusively for us, then cut and sewn in Yorkshire, England.

• Do you make matching oven gloves and hob covers in the Linen Stripe fabric?

  Not at the moment — and there is a good reason why.

  The Linen Stripe cloth is woven loomstate, which means it settles and shrinks on its first wash — noticeably so in length, the way traditional un-shrunk linen always has. For our tea towels, napkins and table runners that is exactly right: they are cut generously to allow for it, so they come out of that first wash at their proper size, softer and fully settled.

  An oven glove or a hob cover is a different thing altogether. They are padded, layered and stitched to a precise shape. A fabric that shrinks after making up would pull those seams and lose its fit — so they need a cloth that is pre-shrunk and holds its size from the very first day.

  We hope to add matching oven gloves and hob covers in a pre-shrunk version of the Linen Stripe fabric in the future, so the whole range can sit together. For now, the collection is table linen — made the traditional way, and all the lovelier for it.