Basque table linen – for a summer garden picnic.

You’ll notice that the stripes are in groups of seven – these stand for the seven Basque provinces in Spain and France, while in the old days the width of the stripes used to indicate the wealth and social position of the family in question. The cloths were originally used as ‘mantes à boeuf’ – covers used to protect oxen from sun and insects while they worked in the fields. Later on they came to be used for table- and kitchen-cloths, and today the patterned cloth is still used for table-linen. The hard-wearing, easy-care cloth has been manufactured since 1910 in the south of France, mainly for country use. It’s a linen and cotton mix, and the coloured stripes are of more delicate sateen cotton. The biggest table-cloth is 350 cm long – just right for a long table for a summer garden party.

Care:

The cloths are not pre-washed. They will shrink about 8%. To minimize this, we recommend that the cloths should first be cold-washed. Subsequent washings at 60° C. Not suitable for dryer.