posted on January 18, 2001 03:28:22 PM new
I'm not HCQ, but it looks to me as though it might be linen. (Easier to tell if I could touch it.)
Any tags with stuff like washing instructions or country of origin? Does it wrinkle easily? It looks quite a bit like some pieces I brought home from Eastern Europe, though I didn't see anything that color there. That's really a great red!
And when were you planning to list it {hint, hint)?
posted on January 18, 2001 03:51:05 PM new
Hi Tabbi...there are no tags on this tablecloth. It was piled in the bin at the Goodwill, and is hardly wrinkled at all. You can see minor fold marks, but it's not bad.
I am going to list it but I need to get some more pictures. I just took that small scan quick to get a picture here.
The edges are not turned, just tightly zig zagged, and the corners are rounded, not pointy.
posted on January 18, 2001 04:07:52 PM new
Could be linen ... but if it doesn't wrinkle, I would suspect a blend. 100% linen wrinkles like crazy ... not just fold marks but major wrinkles that are difficult to iron out. Linen needs to be rolled in wet towels for an hour before you iron it just to get wrinkles out. So, I think your clue is the lack of major wrinkles suggestion it's not 100% linen.
Suggestion: Why not just take it into your local fabric store and get one of the ladies in there to give you advice on it? Most of them are enormously helpful and extremely knowledgable about fabric.
posted on January 18, 2001 04:21:24 PM new
That was why I asked whether it wrinkles easily, but if linen has been folded carefully and put away, it doesn't necessarily get hideously wrinkled (while in storage). I brought home a 100% linen bed sheet from Europe, large enough for a double bed, and it had only fold marks, no wrinkles, despite being jammed into my suitcase. And I get my wrinkled linen smoothed out in very short order with a plant mister and a hot iron.
Lots of linen blends and linen looks out there, though. I think a trip to a fabric store is a great idea.
Still wanna know when you put it up, Meya. Love that red!
(edited for clarity and a dumb typo)
[ edited by tabbinosity on Jan 18, 2001 04:24 PM ]
posted on January 18, 2001 06:52:09 PM new
Good thing I've got such a thick skin. Otherwise I'd start to get hurt feelings - clearly I'm superfluous here
My SWAG is that this is NOT linen. Linen is not inexpensive. It's highly unlikely that a linen tablecloth would have cheap serged edges (rather than expensive hems) - particularly given linen's propensity to ravel like mad, making serging a bad choice for linen edges. If it were jammed into a Goodwill bin even overnight, it'd have some serious creases. My guess is 100% poly or poly/acrylic.
BTW, my experience has unfortunately NOT been that "[m]ost [fabric store employees] are enormously helpful and extremely knowledgable about fabric". I have managed a fabric store, and then as now I was very, very grateful for the staff, who are perennially cheerful even when I'm buying a dozen different quarter-yards of $3 cotton. However, "extremely knowledgeable" is a rarity. More than half the staff at the 4 shops within scooter distance of me can't even discern a difference between chiffon and burlap, let alone make a guess at fiber content. (OTOH, how much expertise can you demand at minimum wage?)
Edited to add Note, tabbinosity, that this tablecloth appears to be significantly coarser than what (I hope) your bedsheet is. The finer the fibers, the softer and smoother the linen (viz. handkerchiefs). Sheesh....linen bedsheets. Can you feel the envy emanating from Hart Cottage?
[ edited by HartCottageQuilts on Jan 18, 2001 06:58 PM ]
posted on January 18, 2001 11:17:31 PM newNote, tabbinosity, that this tablecloth appears to be significantly coarser than what (I hope) your bedsheet is. The finer the fibers, the softer and smoother the linen (viz. handkerchiefs). Sheesh....linen bedsheets. Can you feel the envy emanating from Hart Cottage?
HCQ, my sheet (being brand-new) has not yet reached the consistency and texture of handkerchkief linen. (I'll probably have to take it down to the river and beat it up against the rocks a few times during the laundering process...)
But my hosts were all so apologetic for making my bed with linen sheets because it's so "common." And they were also puzzled by my reaction to the hand-made lace panels that everyone has hanging at their windows. (Talk about envy...)
Wondering how many sheets and curtains I can stuff into my suitcase next trip...
(edited for UBooBoo)
[ edited by tabbinosity on Jan 18, 2001 11:21 PM ]
