COLOURED TABLE SETS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 541, 19 December 1928, Page 9

COLOURED TABLE SETS

MATS IN LACE AND NET We are getting right away from white linen for dinner tables. Even our mats are no longer white, says an English w'riter. For walnut furniture there are the most charming sets of embroidered net, the net being of paris or string colour, and the stitchery of some tint that is to be found in the dinner service or in the colour scheme of the dining-room. Every-day table sets are quite attractive in the kind of thick canvas on which cross-stitch embroidery used to be taught. A long runner and a set. of a dozen mats seen the other day were of this canvas in a very deep cream tone. A Greek key pattern in dark brown had been embroidered rather heavily round the edges, and a small conventional design was scattered here and there on the centres. The mats were used on an oval table of dull Jacobean oak, and looked quite pretty with decorations of deep yellow flowers. Lace and net sets are, of course, beautifully dainty, but they are not particularly serviceable for constant use. Instead there is almost every tone of cambric and linen to be had, and the woman with artistic fingers will cut and embroider her own mats. A shade of butcher’s blue linen looks very smart on a dark table, and it could be embroidered in dark brown or black, or, if the colour scheme of the rooms permits, in a dull orange. The latter is a most effective combination. The shape of both runner and mats can be varied to suit the taste of the hostess. Just now there is a great fancy for a square centre and small square mats, but oval and round patterns look equally well on the table.

Carbonate of soda is excellent for removing obstinate mud stains. Rub the spot with a piece of flannel; then press—on the wrong side—with an iron.