A One Reindeer Open Sleigh

As I mentioned a few blog posts ago, I love to sew.  With Christmas fast approaching, that means I am sewing several things for gifts or home decor.

One of my current projects has a lot of sentimental value to me. When my kids were little, I wanted to make a Christmas tablecloth with horses on it. I looked and looked (this was pre fabric.com days) but couldn't find what I wanted. But, I did find something close.

Santa in his sleigh being pulled by a reindeer! If you can't have a horse drawn sleigh, a reindeer pulled one works almost as well.

After about thirty years of use, and many launderings, my tablecloth is faded but still functional. It is also highly sentimental, not only to me, but to my kids as well. Already I have been asked if I could pass it on to one of them "when the time comes." (How do you say THAT delicately - in other words, when I die!)

Since there are six kids and only one tablecloth, I decided to see if I could find the fabric online and make one for each of my kids.

I searched for several years, and then last January, found 15 yards of it on eBay. I snapped it up.

The seller said the fabric was in excellent shape, and they were right. And, compared to my well-loved tablecloth, the colors are bright and the fabric crisp. Mine is faded and more than a little limp. (Think well-loved.)

And now I am sewing tablecloths.

I love my reindeer sleigh tablecloth and all the family memories that are tied up in its history. But if I ever find fabric with a horse-drawn sleigh, you can bet I'll buy a couple of yards and make myself a new tablecloth, too.

Vintage Equestrian Tablecloth

If you are horsey, often your passion moves from your collection or real horse and into other aspects of your life.  That was the case when I saw this tablecloth in a display of horsey items for sale while out antiquing a few years ago. I fell in love with it, and with the asking price only $22, no holes, no tears, and only one minuscule stain - home with me it came.

 A foxhunting hunt scene runs all around the border. Only the colors of green, red, black, and brown are used.

The scene has two children as spectators waving the hunt on along with their little white dog. The smallest child is holding a rag doll.

The three horse pattern of gray, skewbald, and bay is repeated twice and ends with the waving children. Then pattern begins again with the hounds followed by the horses.

Periodically above the border is the gray horse tipped at angles. Those horses all have dark brown hunting whips.

The center of the fabric that sits on the middle of the table has the galloping gray horse, too.

This tablecloth is one of my favorite horsey items in my home and I use it to cover a table in my horse room. I don't use it for meals downstairs in the kitchen or dining room as I do not want to take a chance of staining it.

Take my advice, when you're looking for pieces to add to your collection, don't forget to poke through other horsey items. You never know when something like this beautiful vintage tablecloth might pop up!