Imported Linens.
Irish, French, Scotch and English table linens cover many grades, from the coarsest to the finest weaving and the most elaborate patterns. All the new designs are large, but in some of the choicest damasks it is possible to get small patterns, if they be preferred. The damask sold by the yard rarely reaches a higher price than two dollars and a half. If one wish for especially pleasing designs and extremely fine quality, it will be necessary to buy the set,—table-cloth and one dozen napkins. The usual width of the best table damask is two yards and a half, but it may be three yards in width. The cloths come from two and a half to four yards in length. In these handsome cloths the border is deep, and the centre frequently perfectly plain.
Table-cloths and Napkins.
The range in quality and price of table linen is greater than that of almost any other fabric. It is a long step from the materials that are so coarse, so loosely woven that they might be used for sieves, to the double damask, so fine that even under a magnifying glass it is almost impossible to discern the threads. One can buy three or four yards of the coarse fabric for about a dollar, and it is possible to be asked one hundred times as much for a dozen napkins and a table-cloth, three or four yards long, of the finer quality. But the average housekeeper does not go to these extremes. It does, however, often happen that a woman with a limited purse, and a thousand calls upon it, makes the mistake of buying table linen of too inferior a grade. It is not economy to purchase a mixture of cotton and linen. Better a coarse all-linen table cloth than a fine one with part cotton, which may look attractive in the store, but cannot be laundered well, whereas the pure linen will improve with age and wear. In purchasing table linen the questions that the housekeeper should ask herself are: Will it be subject to hard wear, and be laundered by inexperienced hands? Can I afford to replenish it frequently? Shall it be fine and beautiful, or shall it be durable, with as much beauty as possible under the circumstances?
The finest goods are of Irish and French manufacture; but the German, while coarse, wear wonderfully well, and some of them have very handsome designs. Nothing in the way of linen lasts longer than the half-bleached damask, and if one live in the country, this may be bleached to a snowy whiteness in a few months. In purchasing these German goods it is wise to get a cloth that costs at least one dollar and a half or two dollars per yard. A cloth of this kind will outwear several of the cheaper grades that are mixed with cotton, and if properly laundered it will always look well. Of course, one can get in these goods a fair piece of table linen at seventy-five cents or a dollar per yard, but the better quality will be found to be the cheaper in the end. Dinner, luncheon, and tea sets may be had, the cloth costing no more than if bought by the yard, with the advantage of having a border all around it.
A piece of heavy felt or double-faced Canton flannel will be required under the table-cloth. It will cost about eighty cents a yard. It is a good plan to get one that will answer when the table is enlarged for guests. It can be folded double when the table is small.
Size and Quality of Napkins.
Fashion has decreed that a napkin shall not be put on the table a second time until it has been washed. Few housekeepers, however, have the means to provide themselves with such a supply of napkins, not to speak of the laundress to care for them; so the napkin ring is still a necessity in the average household. It is important, however, that the supply be large enough to admit of their being changed two or three times a week. For general use a dinner napkin is to be preferred, unless a separate set of table-cloths and napkins be desired for breakfast. In that case the napkins should be smaller than for dinner. All napkins are finished with a plain hem, or are hemstitched.
Fringe is rarely used, except on fancy doilies. The plain square napkin comes in all sizes, from twenty inches to the size of the dinner napkins, which measure twenty-seven inches; and the cost is anywhere from one dollar and a half to fifty dollars a dozen. At five or six dollars a dozen one can get napkins that are good enough for ordinary use. The cheaper and smaller ones are unsatisfactory. Whenever possible, the napkin should match the cloth. One cloth will outwear two sets of napkins; therefore it is well to get two dozen napkins to each cloth. One cannot err in laying in a generous stock of plain ones, but the style of the small fancy napkins is constantly changing, and one should not buy too many of them at a time.