Earn your stripes

Shopfront: Once they were considered the work of the devil - now stripes are the stars of the interior

Striped fabric may be an innocuous pattern but in The Devil's Cloth: A History of Stripes and Striped Fabric Michel Pastoureau writes that it once caused a medieval scandal. "When the first Carmelites arrived in France from the Holy Land, the religious order required its members to wear striped habits, prompting turmoil and denunciations in the West that lasted 50 years until the order was forced to accept a quiet, solid color. The medieval eye found any surface in which a background could not be distinguished from a foreground disturbing."

Striped clothing was relegated to those on the margins of society - jugglers and prostitutes - and in medieval paintings, the devil himself is often depicted wearing stripes. It's a design with many associations: slaves and servants, crewmen and convicts were dressed in stripes for centuries.

But since the 19th century, stripes have taken on more positive meanings: the revolutionary stripes on the French and United States flags, awnings, bankers' pinstripes, pyjamas, hygienic stripes, athletic stripes, Sonia Rykiel's striped sweaters. Stripes have become chic, a symbol of taste.

Using great bolts of it rather than mean doses works inversely, so that your home won't look like a beach house. Provided you choose the right colours, one stripe can be used next to another stripe; they look best if they are of differing thickness. Try to keep stripes pointing in the same direction and balance with solid colour.

The most understated stripe is ticking fabric: slim blue or red lines on a light cotton. Its strength is its utilitarian feel that allows it to be used in unexpected ways: fashion designer Nicola McCutcheon of Suki & Nic used it to cover padded shutters in her Exchequer Street apartment, bought from Murphy Sheehy in Castle Market. Meadows and Byrne has deep-seated sofas and armchairs in a slim blue and white striped ticking fabric (armchairs, €495; sofas, €995).

To get something made in time for summer call Angela Lee (01 4902307) who will make curtains, cushions, seat covers and almost anything else fabric-related.