Not all birthdays are celebrated over glamorous dinners, some with lunches and brunches; here’s a little nod to these equally festive occasions with an easy 3-step guide to setting a gorgeous brunch birthday table with coffee, fruit & yummy pastries on the menu (food recipes not included that is).
Bleached fabric as tablecloth
Do you have a piece of leftover patterned fabric lying around the house approximately the size of your table? Give it a makeover with a bit of household bleach to create a light overlay on top of the existing pattern.
The fabric in the picture above was originally dark pink with diagonal white stripes, however, by treating it with bleach, the pink has been toned down with a couple of intentional gaps where the original colour has been preserved.
Original colour:
To make your own bleached tablecloth..
You'll need:
Fabric (for best results use cotton, rayon or linen; avoid wool and silk)
Plastic bottle, empty
Rubber gloves
Plastic basin (not to be used for food afterward)
Plastic to cover surfaces
What to do:
STEP 1 Mix bleach with water using the plastic bottle (half/half)
STEP 2 Scrunch up fabric and place it into plastic basin
STEP 3 Squirt bleach mixture onto fabric while you ‘knead’ the fabric making sure the bleach is fairly evenly distributed leaving only certain patches dry where you would like to keep the original colour.
STEP 4 Observe. When the fabric is sufficiently bleached, rinse it with water. The speed of which the fabric bleaches can vary significantly.
STEP 5 Finish off by washing fabric in the washing machine at a regular setting.
IMPORTANT: bleach is very potent and can easily stain floors and surroundings therefore please work outside if possible; if you are not able to do so ensure the room is ventilated and surfaces covered. Wear protective gloves.
Elastic band animal print napkin rings
The tablesetting featured in the first picture uses FAY&MAMIE’s DIY napkin rings kit which you can access here, however, should you wish to make your own from scratch, here are some pointers:
Material:
Body: Use a 4 cm wide ribbon or elastic band. Elastic bands or herringbone ribbons are particularly good as they are quite thick and hence keep the circular shape of a napkin ring well; using a thinner material can make it a bit complicated getting the napkin through the hole of the napkin ring afterward.
Connector: To connect the ends of the ribbon or elastic band, you can either use needle and thread (by hand or by using a sewing machine) or non-iron adhesive tape such as this. Do not use iron-on adhesive tapes or meshes as these adhesive solutions tend to not be strong enough due to the thickness of the napkin ring material.
Quantity:
Assume one napkin ring requires a length of ribbon or elastic band of approximately 13-15cm. Depending on how you choose to connect and fasten the length to make a circle you’ll need more or less. If the material is overlapping where you connect it, you’ll need more than 13 cm.
Making the ring:
After cutting the desired number of lengths in your chosen material, you need to create a circle by connecting and fastening the ends of each length.
There are three easy ways to fasten the ends of your band/ribbon to create a circle:
*Should you opt for the latter solution where you connect the ends with adhesive tape by wrapping the tape around the connected area, you will need a thinner ribbon to cover the outer area of the tape as most non-iron adhesive tapes are adhesive on both sides. Have a look at this quick how to guide on how adhesive tape is used in the FAY&MAMIE ribbon based napkin ring kits:
For inspiration, here're some more ribbon based napkin rings:
Vintage glassware
The final tip is to vary your usual glasses and serveware with some colourful vintage finds. It’s typically a more affordable alternative to buying something new; there're a lot of online stores and they all vary in size and focus, some have their own websites, others sell via Instagram, eBay and Etsy and so forth.
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