Washing table linens....

[bosch2460]

For those of you who still regularly use table linens, I am curious to know how everyone else washes them. One would assume that white and color are not mixed, but do you wash them alone, with other stuff, kitchen towels? What temp do they get washed on? I love table linens, but I feel they should be treated like kitchen towels and have them thoroughly washed, since they touch my hands and mouth while I am eating. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Joel

 

[polkanut]

I have 3 white tablecloths (S, M, L)  and I only wash them with other kitchen linens.  I agree that they shouldn't be laundered with undergarments.  Mine are a cotton/poly blend and so I dry them in the dryer, and then fold them immediately after they're done.  As far as water temp is concerned, I wash them in medium hot water, and the dryer heat takes care of any remaining bugs. lol 

 

[hoovermatic]

I have a lot of table linen; white and coloured. As for the white, it gets washed with kitchen whites, coloured get washed with other clothing. I never ever mix underwear with anything. It gets washed in a load on its own.

 

[polkanut]

I have 3 white tablecloths (S, M, L)  and I only wash them with other kitchen linens.  I agree that they shouldn't be laundered with undergarments.  Mine are a cotton/poly blend and so I dry them in the dryer, and then fold them immediately after they're done.  As far as water temp is concerned, I wash them in medium hot water, and the dryer heat takes care of any remaining bugs. lol 

 

As far as folding them is concerned, I fold them in half lengthwise twice, and then I do a sort of accordian type fold so that when I'm done it is square.  My great-grandmother learned how to do this while working as a domestic for a French family in Chicago during the mid to late 1880's.  She taught this to all of her daughters, they in turn taught their daughters, and my mom passed it on to me.

 

[launderess]

Accordian Folding Of Table Cloths

Is still done in France, even by large commercial laundries on the theory being cloths are easier to unfold onto the table. The whole idea of tablecloths *not* having any folds or many creases is a rather new one, and rather English/American.

From about the time tablecloths came upon the scene (at least in France) they were folded and or ironed to give beautiful ripples/creases once placed on the table. This was done to give another dimension to the meal and make the setting more pleasing to the eye. If you look at old paintings you can see this easily. Napkins were also folded into all manner and sort of shapes. Ducks, geese, swans, melons, etc... again for the same reason. There even is a famous old French manual on how to make the various shapes. Such folding fell out of favour over health concerns of freshly laundered linen being handled so much as part of the folding. Indeed today in many of the best French restaurants or hotels napkins are folded by staff wearing gloves.