Oilcloth. A must have staple in my house. We have all the kids chairs, eating surfaces and the craft table covered in it. Great for lunch sacks, covering cookbooks and for making coasters.
Back in the days of our Grandmothers it was a heavy canvas type fabric made waterproof with a coating of linseed oil and paint. It was a basic, everyday cloth that was easy to clean and inexpensive to replace when it wore thin from use. I have memories of my great Grandmothers table covered in layers of it. When one layer grew too thin, she simply stapled another layer to the top. If you looked underneath the table you could see all the edges of the layers.
Made of plastic or vinyl woven with cotton, updated oilcloth is as long-lasting and as adaptable as the ones of our Grandmothers time. Use it anywhere you want a splash of color and a washable surface. When you wipe away those acrylic paint accidents, spilled tomato soup, smashed blueberry muffins, and tacky glue mistakes with ease, you will thank our ancestors for inventing it!
