Linen weights, explained

Every linen roll carries a weight in grams per square metre. It is the single most useful number on the label, and the one most often ignored. Weight tells you how the cloth will hang, how much light it will hold back, and how it will behave after a decade of use.

Below 150gsm you are in shirting and sheer curtain territory. The cloth is airy, it creases with character, and it filters daylight into something soft. It will not hold a tailored shoulder, and it should never be asked to.

Between 180 and 250gsm sits the sweet spot for full-length drapery. There is enough body for a deep pinch pleat to stay crisp and enough drape for the fabric to fall in long, unhurried folds. This is the range we specify most often for homes and hotel guest rooms.

Above 300gsm you are into upholstery and structured garments. Jackets, headboards, seat pads and anything that has to keep a shape under pressure. It is the heaviest to sew and the most forgiving to live with.

When a fabric sample arrives, do two things before you commit. Hold it against a window to see how it reads with light behind it, then bunch a corner in your fist and let go. What the cloth does in those two seconds is what it will do on your window for the next twenty years.