An object unearthed in my household investigations for dispossession: a woven wool rectangle, two-sided, showing a stylized blooming plant, and relatively small (10×19″, not counting its fringes) —
(#1) What I think of as the recto side
(#2) What I think of as the verso side; the images are cropped (because the thing is a bit too large for my scanner), and the colors aren’t quite right, not warm enough (because of some quirk of my scanner), but this will give you the flavor
Something that everyone in my family labeled a table runner (having no other term for something like that). But it seems that in the world of household furnishings (in the US at least) they are known as table mats, typically larger than placemats and used for serving dishes / serveware rather than for individual place settings; apparently in furnishings world, they’re treated as a type of tablecloth (a table covering serving to protect the table’s surface from heat, scratches, and spills) — smaller than a full tablecloth (which overhangs the table surface on all four sides), or even a proper table runner (which overhangs the table only on two opposite sides).
All of these items can be made from plain sturdy fabric, but they are frequently made from more complex fabrics and designed for their beauty as well as their utility. Some examples (from offerings on Amazon.com) from the mat to runner zone:
(#3) A table mat: a farmhouse rustic table mat (embroidered, 13×36″; from Newisher)
(#4) A colorful flower-garden table runner (quilted, M 14×72″ — also available in S 14×48″ and L 14×108″; from Cozzyhomes), here used as a mat on a very long table
(#5) William Morris (1834-1896) & John Henry Dearle (1859-1932), “Tree of Life (The Garden)” (1910) in an embroidered wool table runner from søciety6
August 24, 2025 at 6:38 am |
From my old friend Benita Bendon Campbell, on Facebook, about her old friend (now long gone) Ann Daingerfield Zwicky: