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Cloth, always, and either cotton or linen. I dry them on a drying rack or outdoors on a clothes line to minimize wrinkles. I iron cloth napkins only for special occasions with the in-laws.
I have a whole drawer full of beautiful cotton napkins that are probably going to be donated or re-purposed. I love them but they are too much work. They are a leftover from a time when we did more gracious living. Yes, they have to be ironed. And after you wash, iron, and fold them...it will all probably have to be redone when you use them because they have been folded so long.
YS, they sound wonderful. If you're not going to use them at the table, I have seen others frame vintage embroidered or pretty napkins & display them in their homes. I also saw someone take them & make small pillows out of them to place on sunroom chairs or rocking chairs. She sewed a cheap white hankerchief onto the back for strength as the napkins were fragile. It was a nice country look. My mum made small sachets with some of hers. She left her white wedding gift linen in the cellar for decades, 'til it was beyond repair... too bad, cuz we kids begged her many times to bring it up to use at the table. But, I get it... white linen & a gaggle of kids... she had enough work already.
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My grandma... also ironed underwear and sheets! And hung all that stuff out to dry too. I have no idea how she found the time and energy!
My mum did the same, too. But, when I was young & my da' was still around, she didn't work outside of the home, so her whole day was busy with household chores. And, we were poor, so my mum washed clothing for 7 kids & 2 adults on a scrub board in a large, tin baby bath. When I was small... maybe 7... it was my job to help. Different times.
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Those spun poly ones look great but you will probably never get lipstick or greasy stains out of them!
They are challenging, but I did find a godsend. The dollar stores sell laundry bar soap. 1 is Zote. It's pink with a lovely scent. Anytime I have a tough stain... oil, espresso, tomato sauce, even older stains... I wet the corner of the soap & rub it onto the stain, even poly tees & table napkins. It normally sits a few days before I do the wash, cuz I'm a 1 person household, so I do 1-2 loads/wk max. Never had a stain not come out. Only once/twice I had to do it a 2nd time.
Paper napkins because they are compostable. I don't want to wash more stuff.
Besides, I hate the mental image of stained cloth napkins. Same reason for why I don't use a towel to clean the table before a meal. I hate the idea of collecting the table scraps inside the towel and then having to shake them out in the garbage can. Grosses me out. I'd rather use paper napkins to do the same thing and then throw the whole thing in the trash (err, compostable bin).
Always cotton napkins, and who cares if they're ironed?
I have some just for special occasions, fold them neatly right out of the dryer to prevent wrinkles.
Btw, the framed linens pictured in the post above are handkerchiefs, not napkins.
Btw, the framed linens pictured in the post above are handkerchiefs, not napkins.
Lol. It was given as an example. The end results would be similar.
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