This tablescape was inspired by a pretty, vintage tablecloth. When my parents were married more than 50 years ago, it was in vogue for the brides-to-be to receive numerous table linens for shower gifts. Often, the tablecloths were for card tables and came with four companion napkins. As my mother pointed out, in-home entertaining was more prevalent in those days with couples getting together to play cards and games in evenings. Recently my mother was weeding-out their linen closet and decided to purge pieces that she no longer uses. When I was at my parents' house, she invited me to poke through the donation stack and I saved a few treasures from Goodwill! This is one of those which I took.
The cloth is pure white with this little flower work on one corner. The stitching is pale blue and while it's hard to see in the picture, the three white flowers are sewn in the center so that the petals are "loose". It adds dimension to the dainty work.
Since the cloth is square and my table is oblong, I top-dressed my cobalt cloth. My old cobalt and yellow dishes (some favorites of mine!) seemed to match well. Then, of course, I had to use my cobalt glasses.
In an effort not to upstage my linen (which is the real focus of this setting) I just used spring flowers for the centerpiece.
Do you have any vintage linens that you use?
If so, what's the story behind them?