Elevate Your Dining with Linen Tableware

I absolutely love linen tablecloths and cloth napkins. They convey a feeling of style and a sense of the old fashioned. For some reason I always feel like meals should be slower when you are using linen, I suppose because they remind me of leisurely lunches in elegant seafront restaurants on the Riveria or cosy evening dinners in the traditional "kro" (taverns) we have in Norway. But not only that they are also a chance to use family heirlooms. You may not always think of linens and tablecloths as being family heirlooms but as much work, time and effort went into making the old ones as any piece of antique furniture or precious porcelain. If you are lucky enough to own antique embroidered tableware you will know that hundreds of hours were spent painstakingly sewing flowers, letters and embellishments on the linen.

I own both modern linen tableware and antiques that are several hundreds of years old and it all gets equal love and use. Afterall these things were made to be used not simply to be looked at!

If you are considering investing in some linen tableware or you have some that you want to use, but are on the fence with it, let me share a few things that might convince you to get it out of the linen cupboard and put it to use.

It's one of life's simple luxuries

I am a firm advocate of enjoying the special little moments in life that elevate the everyday. It could be anything from using the best china, to buying a handmade soap instead of the generic brand. Linen tableware is one of those simple luxuries in my opinion. It feels luxurious, but not in a hugely extravagant way and it's something that we can easily and happily make the most of each day of the week.

It looks stylish

There is something timelessly elegant about linen tablecloths and napkins. Our grandmothers and great-grandmothoers used it and loved it and we should be doing the same. Don't feel that you can only use white though. Be adventurous and use coloured table linen, take it outside when you have a picnic or throw a beautiful vintage cloth over a standard white one.

It's environmentally friendly

Admittedly if you make your own compost, paper napkins are not the worst thing in the world to use because you are recycling them, but if you are throwing them into landfill after every meal they are not the most environmentally friendly. There are dyes and chemicals that go into making them, trees that are cut down to make new napkins and more energy than we need to add to our carbon footprint. I am not going to sugarcoat it and say that using a washing machine is carbon neutral, but it's much better for the environment and if you use napkin rings which identify each person's napkin you don't need to wash them after each meal.

They are usually good qaility

OK, this is not always true, but it's definitely worth looking for table linen that is good quality because it will last you and possibly even be passed down to the next generation. Choose table cloths and napkins that are pure linen or cotton; white will keep looking fresher for longer and heavier cloths with a higher thread count and better still.

It's a chance to enjoy family heirlooms

This is something I love to do. My grandma always maintained that even antiques were made to be used. When she passed on her beautiful 1930s Susie Cooper crockery to me I vowed to use it as much as I could. Not only does it get used but my guests get to enjoy it too. The same applies to linen tablecloths, tray cloths and tableware. Someone went to the time and trouble of making it. It's been carefully handed down through the generations to you. Do you think that the person who made it would want to see it sitting in a cupboard or a draw gathering dust? No they would not! And don't forget that anything that you buy right now is a future heirloom in the making.

It can washed at a high temperature

This applies to good quality table linen with a high percentage of cotton. Most of it will have been preshrunk before you bought it. But if it's old you will find that it will have already been washed at a high temperature years ago. Traditionally it was washed in very hot water and sometimes even boiled to keep it white and sparkling. I'm not always an advocate of washing everything at a high temperature but every once in a while, to keep your white tablecloths and napkins looking fresh does not hurt.

If you have kids ar grandkids you might like my final point:

Linen tablecloths make the kids behave better at the table!

Yes, I kid you not! Having 3 children I've done quite a bit of (informal) research into this and I find that if the table is beautifully set and we are using linen tablecloths and linen napkins my children behave much better. Don't think that they are absolute barbarians at the table usually, because they're not, but they are kids and there is always a certain amount of messing about. Maybe using linen tableware reminds them of dining out and the need to behave well. Who knows? But I'll take it! It's time to get out those beautiful tablecloths you have, press them and use them for your next meal. And if you find you are short of some linen tableware then why not take a trip to your local second hand shop or thrift shop and give some beautiful vintage or antique linen a new loving home.