March, 2015

How to Buy a Properly Shaped Tablecloth

Q: How does the shape of a table make a difference when selecting a tablecloth?

A: Tablecloths have two main purposes, and only one of them involves protecting the tables in your establishment from food and drink spills, wine stains, unintentional scrapes and scratches, or any other activity that may permanently damage your table. A tablecloth’s other main purpose, of course, is to increase the aesthetic value of the room in which it happens to be displayed.

Tablecloths come in a very wide variety of materials and styles, and you’ll certainly want to take both of those factors into account while shopping for tablecloths that will work best in your inn’s dining room or the kitchen of your bed-and-breakfast. But because tables come in such a wide are variety of shapes and sizes, the specific shape and size of a tablecloth is something you’ll need to consider as well.

There are four basic shapes of tables: square, rectangle, round and oval. But tables today are available in an incredibly wide variety of sizes and configurations based on those four basic shapes. An oblong table, for instance, is a rectangle having length greater than width. An oval also has length greater than width, but it has continuous curved sides.

Below are images of four fairly common table shapes:

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The Difference Between Bath Rugs and Bath Mats

Q. How does a bath rug differ from a tub/bath mat?

A. A tub mat or bath mat is usually an extension of a towel program, and used specifically right outside the tub to absorb water following a shower or bath.

A bath rug, however, serves multiple purposes. From a design standpoint, a bath rug can make a significant difference in the look of your bathroom. It can complement the overall color scheme of the bathroom or coordinate with the bath towels.

Available in various colors, textures and sizes, you have the option of changing out the bath rug when you need a new look.

Functionally, a bath rug, like a tub mat, helps absorb water from your body when you are stepping out of the shower or bath—it keeps excess water off the floor and prevents slipping on wet tiles. A 100% cotton bath rug is the best alternative, as cotton absorbs many times its weight in water and dries fast.

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Understanding Low Twist Yarn

Q: What exactly is “low twist” yarn?

A: In the spinning process, yarn is twisted to add strength and provide greater uniformity, aiding the weaving process. The greater the twist, the more durable and substantial the yarn.

To create a low twist, the yarn is actually untwisted. Only longer staple cotton fibers—with their inherent strength—can be used in constructing low-twist yarns. The de-twisting action creates more air and space between the fibers, which yields a terrycloth fabric that’s especially soft and absorbent. This feature also decreases the time it takes the towel to dry after use or washing.

Q. What’s the difference between low-twist cotton towels and the more standard ringspun cotton towels?

A. You’re probably familiar with single-ply, 2-ply and 3-ply yarn. What you might not know is that while a single is, of course, a single strand a yard, “single” is also a term used to describe yarn that’s twisted in a single direction. Tecnically speaking, then, multiple strands of yarn can still be correctly described as a “single” if they’re all twisted in the same direction.

As far as 2-ply and 3-ply yarn is concerned, they consist of multiple strands of spun yarn that are twisted in the opposite direction from which they were originally twisted. This is done because twists add considerable strength to cotton fibers, and each multiple direction of a twist adds even more strength. That’s why a 3-ply towel is generally stronger than a 2-ply, and a 2-ply towel will tend to be stronger than a single-ply.

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