About ten days ago I showed you a photo of our kitchen table for autumn. Today I'm in the kitchen making yogurt and doing some baking, so I thought now might be a good time to share more about the table setting.
The Tablecloth
We almost always use tablecloths on this table because, well, 3 kids + 32 years = lots of scars. To hide the very worn surface, I throw some sort of covering over it year round.
Several people have commented on this year's autumn tablecloth. One friend told me that she had never seen a tablecloth that is so strikingly "masculine." Another friend who adores everything about Ralph Lauren home decor asked if this was a RL tablecloth.
Personally, I think my own plaid tablecloth is more attractive that Mr. Lauren's, judging from what I could find in online images.
A "tablecloth" does not need to be an actual tablecloth, a piece of fabric that has been dedicated, through cutting and hemming, for the sole purpose of table covering. In fact, some of the most interesting "tablecloths" that I've seen have been quilts, blankets, or lightweight rugs.
My particular autumn "tablecloth" is a length of woolen yardage from my piles of fabric for sewing projects. I took a 60 inch X 3 1/2 yard piece of wool plaid, turned under about 2 feet of excess fabric, and laid the whole piece, with the back side facing up (still the same plaid, but minimizes wear on the "good" side) on the kitchen table. A 60-inch wide piece of fabric will have from 8 to 14 inches of overhang on both long sides of a rectangular table. (For reference, my kitchen table is 34 inches wide while my dining room table is 43 inches wide.) I did not hem the ends or sides, but I did neatly trim loose threads from the ends.
When I am done using this as a tablecloth this autumn, I will gently hand-wash the fabric and return it to the fabric pile.
To protect the fabric, I've place my summer straw mats at the individual places of the table. I think the contrast in texture is pleasing. The 36-year old burgundy cloth napkins belong to a set of fabric placemats, but they do work well with the tones in this wool plaid.
The Candleholders
If you look closely at the support for my jar candles, you'll see that these are upturned water goblets. Holding the goblets right side up, I filled the bowl of each with foraged acorns and pinecones, plus some faux autumn leaves. I carefully turned them upside down and set them on the table. Finally, I gently lifted the lower edge of each goblet and slid in a couple more acorns for a full look.
With a decorative ribbon tied around each stem and a small canning jar with votive candle placed inside resting on what would be the base of the goblet, I now have free candle holders. After their use this autumn, the goblets will revert to drinking vessels, the canning jars will be cleaned out and put back into canning use, and the acorns, pinecones, faux leaves, and ribbons will go back into my crafting cupboard.
The Vine
The totally-free vine and pumpkins are from my crafting box and garden. About 1 year ago, I wrote about the box of crafting supplies that I got from a free pile in my neighborhood. Yep, the faux vine was in that box. In addition, the pumpkins were grown with a seedling given to me by another neighbor. So this really is a free bit of table decor.
There you have it. My no-cost, "new" table decor for Autumn 2019.
Back to my yogurt-making. "Chat" more soon.
