Fine Table Linens
Your fine china and silverware teamed with your elegant table linens (cloths, runners, napkins, mats) all serve to set the tone for your at-home entertaining and dining events.
When you ponder the hazards the simple place setting poses to your luxurious linens —from renowned double damask from Ireland, to Aleçon laces from France, to elaborate embroideries from Belgium and Switzerland, you realize that sitting down to break bread with family and friends is risky business for your table linens.
From the oil in salad dressing to the sugar and cream in desserts and coffee, not to mention the red wine sipped throughout the meal or your grandmother’s prized gravy recipe, the entire experience is fraught with perils.
When it comes to caring for your fine table linens, we are expert in identifying and testing to determine what caused the stain, and then match it with the proper treatment to remove them one by one – before processing the complete piece. At Bridge, we understand that treating a grease stain with water or subjecting it to heat, will set the stain and make it almost impossible to remove completely. You should know that principle applies to virtually every stain created during a meal, which is why stain identification and pre-treatment are ALWAYS the order of the day in our facility.
For your part, here are some things you want to keep in mind when one of your guests drips, dribbles, drops or spills something on your table linens:
1. Blot don’t rub – rubbing will abrade the fine fibers, resulting in physical damage that is irreversible.
2. Never treat a stain with chlorine bleach or any other at home remedy. Under the right (or wrong) conditions it will weaken fibers and may cause yellowing
3. Don’t delay sending your linens in for prompt professional care, and
4. Don’t keep them anywhere warm - heat will cause stains to oxidize and make them more difficult to remove.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when your linens sit on the shelf awaiting your next dinner party:
1. Always protect your linens from direct light.
2. Be sure to cover linen closet shelves with unbuffered acid-free tissue paper, found at our couture closet on line shop or a textile museum supply source. It is ideal for linen storage because it doesn't discolor fabrics over time or off gas corrosive chemicals from adhesives or dyes like most commercial decorative liners do. Lay some over shelves to protect your linens from paint, wood stains or stray splinters.
3. Protect your linens from airborne particulate by wrapping them in unbleached muslin or storing them in our linen envelopes (available at our on line shop)
4. Let us know your linen shelf dimensions so we can fold your fine cloths to the optimum size for your needs.
As always, if you have any questions or comments about your fine linens, feel free to ask us.
