Winter isn’t that far away and families will once again take out their holiday décor and belongings from storage. People tend to spend more money on tablecloths, hoping to keep them in their pristine look and shape throughout the year, especially the holiday season. Maintaining and preserving the cover is paramount to make it look brand new every year.
- As an informed homeowner, it’s your duty to not let stains and marks sit too long on the tablecloth.
- You can remove the minor ones with a grease-repelling dish/washing soap or solution. Use a soft brush to clean it. If it doesn’t bear fruits, get your tablecloth to a reputable cleaner as soon as possible and ask them to pre-treat the marks.
- If the cover doesn’t have stains and simply needs washing, follow the instructions properly. Put it inside the washing machine to ensure maintenance cleaning.
- Set the appliance to warm and put the table linen inside when the machine tank/base is halfway full.
Things to remember
You must send most table linens to the laundry. It could be at home or a professional laundry. It’s rare to find the care labels of a cloth napkin, runner, or table cover stating the requirement for dry cleaning.
- Your washing must be in cold water. Air dry the material as fine linens can suffer 4-5% shrinkage in the event of natural drying. Tumble drying can leapfrog it to 10% shrinkage.
- Avoid fabric softeners to clean a table cover as it affects the finish and produce a waxy, dirty film, especially on synthetic covers.
- Segregate the color fabrics and whites to prevent bleeding of the fabric.
- In terms of stains, do note that every stain has something unique about it.
- With spills, don’t rub the cloth as it can perpetuate the stain inside the fabric.
- Do remember that not all cloth napkins, table runners, and tablecloths comprise color-safe bleach and dyes. They will bleach, fade, and bleed easily if you use incorrect stain removers.
- Press the linens when they aren’t damp. Take the fabric’s highest setting and iron it. Make sure it doesn’t leave residue or scorch marks.
- The ideal way to store a table cover is to wrap it around sturdy, large, cardboard rollers or tubes.
Some common FAQs
People often don’t know how to keep their table linen clean. While there are numerous ways to keep it clean, one of the best methods is to wash the material with cold and hot water and follow a proper drying cycle.
You can also clean your table cover without rubbing. If there are spills on the clear, white table cover, you mustn’t rub it. You can rather use a towel for blotting the excess material. You need to know that the colored cloth/towel will eliminate the spill from the tablecloth. This is where the blot vs rub inference kicks in.
It’s not a daunting task to eliminate wax drips from your tablecloth. Scrape off the wax gently with a butter knife. If it’s a washable cloth, you can just put it in your washing machine.