Tablecloths: The Topic

[LCS]

I recently bought a house with a HUGE dining room and am excited to entertain a lot. I purchased two 8' long banquet tables and used them once already. I rented the linens with the chairs and was just going to get my own linens when I needed them. Well I'm hosting a tea party this weekend and will need to use of the tables, but have no table cloth! Seems silly for me to drive 30 minutes to the closest party rental place. Regular stores (dept. stores, Linens & Things, etc.) don't carry large ones (90" x 156") and the only sites that carry them take too long to ship or only do bulk orders. I don't need anything fancy. Just plain white spun poly and I'll start my collection of runners and napkins later. Any ideas? Google has failed me!

[naguere]

My Aunt, staying with relatives (during the depression,,,, things happened), she was tasked to set the tea table (this is in England), it was the full monty, silver and all, cake stand as well, as she spent a few minutes lining things up her Aunt informed her that she had put the tablecloth on up-side-down so everything had to be taken down and done again.

[SLB]

I hunted up this thread because my current obsession is tablecloths.  I love textiles, and textile-art, and the whole thing where utility combines with pretty.      

 

I've tossed most of my mother's old tablecloths, which were all 1970s polyester.  But I have one lace wonder that was my paternal grandmother's, a woman born not long after the end of US slavery.  Actually, it's not lace, more like a weave or loose crotchet or something.   I have no memory of it having stains during my mother's custody, but when I pulled it out yesterday, it featured several large yellowed areas.  

 

Now I want some new ones.  Or at least one new one.  

[SLB]

Also, in my obsession I learned a new term:  "Tablescape".  

[Smithy]

8 hours ago, SLB said:

I hunted up this thread because my current obsession is tablecloths.  I love textiles, and textile-art, and the whole thing where utility combines with pretty.      

 

I've tossed most of my mother's old tablecloths, which were all 1970s polyester.  But I have one lace wonder that was my paternal grandmother's, a woman born not long after the end of US slavery.  Actually, it's not lace, more like a weave or loose crotchet or something.   I have no memory of it having stains during my mother's custody, but when I pulled it out yesterday, it featured several large yellowed areas.  

 

Now I want some new ones.  Or at least one new one.  

 

I love tablecloths, and have far more than is practical given my current circumstances. I think it's a harmless habit.

 

As to the yellowing: the other day, I unboxed a crocheted...tablecloth? bedspread?...not really sure of its original purpose although it would work as a tablecloth.  I don't think it's quite as old as the one you describe, but it also has yellowing that I don't remember. I'm not sure what to do about it. I know my mother tried to bleach the yellow out of some ancient piece of table covering and just made it worse.

 

Stains or no, please post a photo! I at least would like to see this wonder!

[Maison Rustique]

@Smithy and @SLB  Try this.

[Darienne]

7 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

Stains or no, please post a photo! I at least would like to see this wonder!

I'm with Smithy.

 

[SLB]

This is not a great photo -- it's a gray day, and just plain dark:

 

 

I don't know how old the tablecloth is, but I am very confident in my presumption that she did not have a tablecloth until well after WWII, when enough of her 20 children had done well enough for themselves to move her into the kind of house that had an indoor bathroom. 

 

I don't even know if it's particularly special; it just was the "fancy" tablecloth in my mother's home.   In my child's eye and memory, it is very *pretty*.

 

My adult self prefers block printing, geometrics, etc.  Other kinds of visual stimulation.  

 

[TdeV]

@SLB, was the tablecloth handmade or machine made?

[Smithy]

@SLB, that tablecloth reminds me sharply of the "fancy" tablecloths I grew up with...can't remember now whether it was my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, or all of the above. I think it's beautiful! 

[SLB]

42 minutes ago, TdeV said:

@SLB, was the tablecloth handmade or machine made?

My guess is machine-made; the pattern of the holes is so consistent and orderly.  There's no label; how would I be able to tell??  

[MaryIsobel]

My husbands's mother had a huge tablecloth that her mother had crocheted. It was brought out for special occaisions for my husband's family of 10.(two parents and 8 kids) At about age 5 my husband took scissors to it - little brat that he was. He recalls being sent to his room by his teary-eyed mother. To this day, he remembers the shame he felt. Not for destroying the tablecloth, but for making his mother cry. This was over 60 years ago. I still tease him when I put a tablecloth on our dining room table and say "please don't cut this!'

[blue_dolphin]

Thanks for sharing that photo, @SLB. My mom had one with that vibe. I loved seeing the pattern stand out against the different solid color tablecloths used for each season. Crimson or deep green for Christmas, pink or mint green in spring and gold or brown in the fall. Sweet memories!

[liuzhou]

I never use the things. I don't see the point. They're just another thing to wash later. Anyway, I like the the look of wood.