Unless you are the one preparing a fancy sit down dinner, you probably won’t notice whether there is a cloth or vinyl tablecloth or even if anything is there at all. The fact is that most people take this nicety for granted. After all, tablecloths have been around for a long time. Their purpose is originally utilitarian. Tablecloths were used to protect the surface of the table from stains and spills. They were also used to hide a plain table and remake it into something fancier.
Over the years, tablecloths have been made out of all kinds of textiles: cotton, wool, asbestos, raffia, and oilcloth, just to name a few. Today, asbestos has fallen out of favor, raffia is more commonly found in placemats, and oilcloth has been remade into vinyl cloths. Vinyl tablecloths first became popular in the 1950’s.
They were used outdoors to cover picnic tables and indoor to compliment the bright Formica of a typical kitchen. The most popular pattern on a vinyl cloth was, and still is, the classic red and white checked picnic pattern.