Table Setting — The Linen

In the colored damasks every woman will find an opportunity to vary her table setting effects occasionally with a harmonious combination of pastel shades in tablecloth, glass, china and centerpiece. But the conservative woman still uses white damask for her formal dinners, and undoubtedly will continue to do so.

White linen damask is the classic covering for the dinner-table. Linen and lace are often combined and sometimes elaborate all lace tablecloths are used. When a lace cloth is used, it is placed on a bare table.

In the colored damasks every woman will find an opportunity to vary her table setting effects occasionally with a harmonious combination of pastel shades in tablecloth, glass, china and centerpiece. But the conservative woman still uses white damask for her formal dinners, and undoubtedly will continue to do so.

Tablecloths

Before you buy your tablecloths, carefully measure your tableand allow a twelve-to-fifteen-inch overhang for your dinner cloths, and an eight-to-twelve-inch overhang for your luncheon cloths.

Tablecloths should be French hemmed, with the hem three-eighths of an inch to one-half an inch wide, and napkins, also French hemmed, have hems of from one-eighth of an inch to one-quarter of an inch wide.

A white linen damask cloth is as appropriate for the formal or informal luncheon as for the formal or informal dinner. Gay colored sets of damask or of less formal materials are often used. Linen runners, with small luncheon napkins to matchare popular, especially on long tables like refectory tablesAn especially beautiful table is sometimes left bare except for the mats under the centerpiece, plates, and glasses. Damask napkins are used with these.

Luncheon sets are appropriate for use at breakfast, luncheon, an informal dinner, or supper.

For the tea table one may use an embroidered or hemstitched teacloth, or a simple or elaborate lace cover, or a combination of linen and lace.

Napkins

Tablecloths and napkins should match. For formal dinners an unusually large napkin is smart, but nowadays napkins, like most other “furnishings,” have shrunk, and one rarely encounters dinner napkins larger than twenty-eight inches and usually not larger than twenty-four inches.

Luncheon napkins are from thirteen inches to eighteen inches square. White hemstitched luncheon napkins are often used with a white linen damask cloth.

Breakfast napkins, often colored or with a colored border to match the cloth, are usually a bit smaller than luncheon napkins but may be the same size.

Appropriate to the appointments of the tea table are the small tea napkins, sometimes of fine handkerchief linen with scalloped edges, sometimes of damask with hemstitched borders, and sometimes of heavy linen with drawnwork borders. In houses with Early American furnishings —and with excellent laundry technic— the old-fashioned damask napkins with fringe edges add a charmingly quaint touch. But with uncertain laundering these are very apt to be unattractive looking. — “The American Woman’s Cookbook,” 1951

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Proper Tablecloth Overhang Length

When measuring the table for a cloth and overhang from ten to fifteen inches on all sides must be allowed for. On a large banquet table, for a really luxurious effect, the cloth should hang over as far as conveniently possible.

The term “table linen” is applied to any fabric or material used for a cloth or placemats for the dining table, and to the accompanying napkins. While china, flatware, and glass are bought and correlated with the idea that they will be used for many years and perhaps, with nominal care, will last a lifetime and more, linen is one of the elements of the table that allows for the greatest number of changes. In china, flatware, and glass, the best advice anyone can give you is, “buy the finest you can afford”; linen can be extremely expensive, but it need not be – there is less convention nowadays and more ingenuity, imagination, and personal taste.

The shape of the tablecloth should, of a necessity, conform to the shape of the dining table, whether it is square, oblong, round, or oval. The oblong or rectangular table has been the most popular for many years, but there is a modern trend toward round tables that open up to an oval shape for extra seating. When measuring the table for a cloth and overhang from ten to fifteen inches on all sides must be allowed for. On a large banquet table, for a really luxurious effect, the cloth should hang over as far as conveniently possible. — Patricia Easterbrook Roberts, 1960

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia