Accentuate your dining table with layered table linens and elevate your dining experience

During the festive season and for that matter for any occasion to be celebrated, preparing the food is a major part of the event and needs to be planed for carefully. But of equal importance to the food being served, is the ambiance that is created with the decoration and settings of the place where the occasion is to be held.

At the center of the room, the dining table stands out as the biggest and most elaborately decorated furnishing and greatly adds to the entire experience.

Photo credit: Eleganza Home Textiles

The right tablecloth, the correct color scheme and the balance between different fabrics and overlays, can bring a different feel to the table and turn an ordinary, nicely decorated dining table to an extraordinary table fit for any celebration.

Accentuating the dining table, adding a great centerpiece, the correct table setting, spotless chinaware and cutlery, and sparkling glasses together with accessories, candles, nametags and neatly folded napkins really sets the right mood for the entire dinner. A great looking dinner table automatically demands attention from all your guests.

The right tablecloth, the correct color scheme and the balance between different fabrics and overlays, can bring a different feel to the table and turn an ordinary, nicely decorated dining table to an extraordinary table fit for any celebration.

I remember that my grandmother’s table on any special occasion had an immaculate, starched white tablecloth on the table and over it a hand made, laced table runner to accentuate the table centerpiece.

Photo credit: Nabis Fabric

For a long time it seemed to me that this was really an old fashioned, country style and really a thing of the past. Tables, also in restaurants, became spartan, clean and bare. Elaborate decorations and tablecloths were at one point something one would only find in fine dining rooms.

But recently, I feel, that the tablecloth and particularly layered tablecloths and table runners which give character to a dining table, have made a comeback. Table runners of native materials, placemats in complementing colors, silk and lace overlays to bring out the best in our china ware and plate chargers and multiple layers of table cloths, abound.

Various different fabrics and materials are placed on top of each other all in harmony and to make the tablecloth and the dining table for our dinner parties once again the “piece de resistance” it  deserves to be.

A few Do’s and Don’ts:

1. Choose the right size tablecloth for your table. In general the tablecloth should not touch the floor, but needs to be long enough to hide the legs of the table.
2. Lightly starch your table linen. Nothing spells “class” better than a crisp, clean tablecloth, and nothing but starch achieves that feel.
3. When using multiple layers of tablecloth, ensure that the each layer is uniformly layered onto each other, meaning that the distance from one tablecloth to the other is the same.
4. Don’t use heavy colored and/or rough and coarse fabrics underneath lighter, or laced cloths.
5. When using table runners, ensure that they are not overlapping the place settings, placemats or plate chargers. The same goes for the correct size placemats. As a general guideline, table runners should be about 30 cm or 1 foot wide.
6. When using place mats, ensure that they are large enough to hold all the cultery as well.
7. If lace or silk is used on top of cotton or linen garment, it is important that the lace or silk in kept in place securely. This is often achieved by securing it with pins or safety pins from underneath.
8. Work with color tones and shades, rather than different prime colors. Too many colors will make your table look like patchwork once the plates, glasses and cutlery is added.
9. Using a felt or thick cloth underlay underneath the tablecloth helps in softening the table. However, if the felt is too thick there is a danger of glasses and vases being easily tipped over.
10. Iron your tablecloth after placing it on the table. A perfectly creased tablecloth is acceptable, but small wrinkles or soft and unsharp creases should be ironed out.

Thomas Wenger

Born in Bern, Switzerland, Thomas followed in the footsteps of his mother and entered a three-year cooking apprenticeship program and graduating it at the age of 20. Working a few short stints in a winter ski resort and a city hotel in Basel/Switzerland during the following years he took the opportunity to work in New York in 1986. What was originally planned as a one-year experience in New York lasted three years and went on to a global career, which led him to Australia and on to Hong Kong in 1990. For the past 15 years, Thomas has explored South East Asia and it’s cuisines and regional specialties. He worked in some of the most exciting cities in the world - Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok and his culinary style reflects the many experiences and the people he worked with. Throughout his career, Thomas liked the challenges and diversity of hotel operations. He recently joined a Hotel & Restaurant Management school in Manila, Philippines as Senior Culinary Faculty.