My Linen cupboard is testimony to the fact that I have a fetish for tablecloths!!
Over many years of being in the events and advertising industry, and being in charge of family and office parties, my linen cupboard is to be envied!!
There are of course the very precious ones, beautifully starched and folded, cloths that my dear Mum used to embroider, her favourite medium was Madeira Lace work. She would only use white or cream firm cotton and her absolute favourite was the Madeira work. She always used always a delicate 'cafe au lait' brown for the scallop stitch and a tiny pair of embroidery scissors for the cutout and open work. Woe betide Gavin or me if we even thought of touching her embroidery scissors!!
Her work was outstanding, in fact exquisitely painstaking, and the pile of table cloths of all sizes in my cupboard bears witness to the extraordinary abilities of women at the beginning of the century.
I wonder what my daughters and daughters in law will think of this precious legacy that has to be boiled to remove the tea stains, and actually starched and ironed!!!
Less majestic but fun, I have the bright and colourful floral cloths used for party tables on our giant lawn. We have a miscellany of tables of all shapes and sizes, and a garden luncheon party is always vibrant and picturesque with cloths festooned with poppies, pansies, petunias, peonies and pointsettias.
Then of course there are the Bridge Table cloths! I have such talented friends, Jenny, Teri, Jeannie who have endless artistry and brilliant ideas!!
Christmas cloths - now there could be a whole chapter on Christmas Cloths, the best time to buy table cloths is on 1 Jan at the Christmas sales. I have damask cloths with edges of poinsettias, cloths festooned with tiny ivy and holly motifs. I even went 'Cornflower Blue' one Christmas and made napkins of blue decorated with silver snow crystals and outdid my creativity by making blue and ice-white beaded napkin holders!!
Over the years the table cloth sizes increased as the family increased. From a romantic twosome size to a Sunday lunch of twenty, but now the dining table is sadly diminishing once again in stature.
However table cloths are all very well in Zimbabwe, where willing workers will spend Boxing Day washing the darn things, life in the First World is not so privileged and a fair number of plastic table cloths have crept into my collection. However I just cannot bring myself to actually 'throw them away' as is the intention!!
This year, spent in the Arctic Circle, I have purchased some sturdy sleigh-red felt circular table mats with a festive edging of cut out snowflakes. Teamed with (dare I say it white PAPER) napkins, which will be held elegantly and laboriously rolled up, with charming red wax Holly berries and green leaves!!