Table covers...does anyone use these nowadays

Yes I use them when I use my dining table. I’ve got an embroidered one that my mother in law did and another embroidered one I won in a Christmas raffle when I was 15 years old. The rest of my tablecloths I made to fit my table.

No, I don’t have any - except a Christmas one that’s too small (was a present) which did once come out when we had even more guests than usual, and had to bring the garden table in.

However I did buy a really nice, wipeable Christmas one for a dd with young children, to fit her long kitchen/diner table. It comes out every year.

I have several embroidered cloths, made by my maternal grandmother. I don't use them, so am considering making them into blouses, which is a 'thing' apparently. I had a pretty Hungarian 'gypsy' blouse as a teenager and have always wanted another.

shysal I’ve seen short videos on Instagram where someone makes things out of embroidered clothes. It’s a good idea I think.

Cloths

I use a pretty vinyl tablecloth during the week and cotton linen ones if visitors come for a meal at any time.

Yes, I use a tablecloth all the time.

Old fashioned, I know.

Also wear a pinny.

Keeps the front of my clothes clean when I am doing jobs.

My mum used to wear a wrap-around pinafore, like they wear in WW11 films.

Can you still get them?

If so, might progress to one.

My daughter uses a tablecloth (as we did when the children were small). Checked, striped, seersucker, plain but not embroidered unless (say) Christmas.

Our kitchen table - where we tend to eat - is just oiled (rather than polished) so we use mats and no cloth unless we have lots of family over.

We have an enormous Nottingham lace cloth for birthdays/Christmas which is always an occasion.

I have seen beautiful lace or embroidered tablecloths made into duvet covers though.

My mother-in-law uses a tablecloth even if it's just her - she uses a checked or seersucker one for breakfast or lunch but embroidered in the evening or if she has visitors.

Yes use table cloths as we eat off a polished mahogany table which is at the end of our sitting room. We don’t have room for a kitchen table. Several table cloths came from European holidays when we could buy decent ones quite reasonably. My mother also used to buy them fr us when they went on holiday. In more recent years I have bought a few from JL when they were in the sale.

I use one once every 2 years on Christmas Day when it is our turn to host.

The internet is full of stuff being made from old tablecloths.

There's a red tablecloth on my dining table at the moment.
I like to protect the surface, and it cheers up the room.

I have some lovely inherited table cloths and huge linen ones. I use them when family or friends come for dinner. Underneath it is the table saving cover, so no spills or hot plates can ruin the table.
When it’s just DH and I we use place mats.

I use a plain white tablecloth when we have family meals. I lay a beautiful embroidered small cloth over it for Christmas, bought in Germany.
Sometimes I use the old fashioned tablecloth that my Nana embroidered for me instead.
No tablecloth used in the kitchen though.

I use tablecloths in the dining room but not in the kitchen where we usually eat. DD doesn't use them though so when her MiL gave her two they came straight to me. I have two Christmas ones that I must hunt for as goodness know where they have hidden themselves so maybe I can do a bit of decluttering on the way.

I use a Dunelm linen-look wipe clean cloth for everyday. It always looks nicer than the vinyl ones I used. For dinners on high days and holidays when the silver and the china make a rare appearance, it is damask, white or cream, with matching napkins.

Yes, I do, I’ve got a nice old oak dining table and I don’t want it marked. It’s oval, so it wouldn’t look right with a runner in any case. So many modern tables have wipe clean surfaces, so I can understand why it’s not necessary for them.

I used to use an oil cloth type cover. My GS bit a chunk out of it! We never found the missing fabric. I have a new table now but anything I put on it swiftly ends up on the floor as my cats use it as a slide. I’ve tried keeping it on with those clips ppl use for patio tables but they ping those off and I end up scrabbling on the floor to reach under furniture to retrieve them.

In 2017 and 2018 I bought a plain white tablecloth and put eldest GD in charge of it. She was 10 at the time. She had to go to each member of the family and get them to draw and colour something on it The older ones had to do something related to themselves eg SiL drives a lorry so he drew one, one DGS has a cat so he drew that. The tinies just drew what they could. I am going to try it again this year but I think there will be less enthusiasm. Eldest GD now has a boyfriend. Enough said!

Oh, the long gone high days and feast days of granny's spectacular and beautiful table linen, the gleaming silver candlesticks and cutlery, the crystal glasses and decanters ...........

Major downside was starching and ironing all the linen, polishing the flipping silver and having to wash the crystal by hand instead of chucking it into the dishwasher!!!

We don't use a cloth when we eat in the kitchen but do in the dining room. We have an extending table in the kitchen so rarely have to use the dining room table but do cover that with a heat resistant cover and nice cloth when we do use it.

I have a lovely green spotty tablecloth slung -over my old coffee table outside in my back garden.
There is method in my madness!!!!
The tablecloth makes a lovely waterproof cover for the the tray below, upon which is the hedgehog's evening supper.
Which consists of a feast of wetted catfood & digestive biscuits. We have a lovely mix of hedgehogs that visit out little bijou cafe.
A couple of tiny ones, a goddess mummy one, a couple of teenagey ones and last but not least Big Daddy Hedgehog. He does have a name but it's too rude for this genteel site!. 😊🌻🏵🍪



a feast of wetted dry cat food & digestive biscuits. We have a mixture of hedgehogs that come to eat from this little cafe; a teeny-tiny one, a goddess mummy one, some almost teenage ones and last but not least big daddy hedgehog. He has got another name but it's too rude for this sometimes gentle site. 😊🏵🌺

Sorry my post went a bit squiffy! I have not yet even touched a drop of the grape -juice. Anyway, I have got to go and feed Mr Big Balls & his hedgehog family. 😊

Just realised we have mainly assumed the post was about tablecloths rather than table covers.

I have never used a table cover and nor did my mother.
I had an aunt who used one - a sort of oilcloth or linoleum(?) one. It was cut to the tabletop size and covered during non-meal times with a dark chenille cover with lovely tassels on.

I remember a friend in the late 70s who had a vinyl (PVC?) coated one she put it on the table if her children were doing anything messy.

Just thought I'd raise this old thought with others.

I use whatever comes to hand, because my table is scored and marked.

Covering it up is the cheapest option.

I've got an oilskin on it at the moment, which looks exactly like wood.