Sneak a peek at my new (to me!) vintage tablecloth hoard!

I never expect to find vintage tablecloths at thrift stores. The rare times when they do turn up are mini occasions for celebration. (No champagne involved, but it sure is exciting!)

Last week I stopped at a thrift store in the middle of the week and hit the vintage tablecloth jackpot. Take a peek:

Okay, it isn’t a pile of pristine Wildendur tablecloths with their original tags. I’m not complaining! Would you? Didn’t think so.

My guess is most of them belonged to the same household. I’m sure people who have the fun of shopping estate sales find piles like this all the time. Lucky you! Now we’re even.

Want to get a better look?

First there are tablecloth twins:

Someone couldn’t decide which colors they liked better, so they bought both versions. Smart lady!

Let’s hazard a guess and say everything coordinates with white. BORING! I wanted to jazz things up with some vintage color. Here’s tablecloth twin A with pastel Hazel Atlas Moderntone Platonite.

The peach and yellow are lovely. The mint? Not so hot.

The bluish-gray and teal of tablecloth twin B plays nicely with Fire-King jadeite. Sort of.

Probably not the most optimal color match, but I’d put it on my table. Hazel Atlas white plates with black spaghetti drizzles would be dramatic on this tablecloth.

These are the plates I’d rather use! I stole this photo off eBay because I gave my HA dishes to one of my kids. Can’t have everything.

Both tablecloths are signed by a designer, but the signature is too faint to read. I’ll have to ask the folks at the Vintage Tablecloth Lovers Club for identification assistance.

Next up, a heavy linen tablecloth covered with field of daisies. Or asters. Whatever they are, they’re blue. I brought out their sunny yellow centers with vintage Bakelite-handled flatware that was never, ever used. (It’s a set for six tucked away in the original felt roll.)

Don’t Eat the Daisies. (If you remember that old TV show, you were around when this tablecloth was new.)

I’m fairly sure the Founding Fathers didn’t use these colors in their decorating. They were perfectly on trend in the 50s and 60s. (The colors, not the Fathers.) I’ve paired this tablecloth with iridescent Federal Moon Glow from the 1970s.

Imaginary Early American done in pink, turquoise and cocoa.

More cocoa and a little banana warm up this little rayon table topper. (Yum! Sounds like dessert, doesn’t it?)

The golden Bakelite reappears. Just imagine a pumpkin pie here, too. And whipped cream. And turkey and gravy. And no wrinkles because this will get washed and ironed.

A step up on the social swankyness scale, this heavy linen oval tablecloth probably coordinated with someone’s fine china from Sears. It looks soporific with the Moon Glow plate.

Sweet and a little too safe. Soothing. Snoozing! This needs more color. Everyone at the table will fall asleep before dessert.

Did someone ask for color? Call in Vera! Unfortunately, this tablecloth is so damaged plates may never sit on top of it again.

I LOVE you Vera, but you have issues. Like those bleach spots right smack in the middle. And a dozen dark grease stains. You’re breaking my heart!

Last in the list but first in my heart (my tacky, tacky heart!) is this fantastic plaid plastic tablecloth with a flannel back. (Say that ten times fast!)

Why sit at a plain, wood picnic table when you could have this? No brainer!

It’s begging for Melmac. Mist Grey, Glade Green, Glow Copper and Spray Lime Color-Flyte Melmac by Branchell. I’d love to show you how great it looks together, but I gave all my Color-Flyte to the other one of my kids. Maybe they should get the picnic tablecloth, too. I’ll think about that. Later.

Hope you found something exciting and fun while you were shopping!

We will be over the moon and totally love you if you share us with your friends!