How to Set a Beautiful Tea Table

Formal teas require matched china and serving pieces.

A beautiful tea table sets the tone for an escape into a more genteel and gentle world. Many service agencies, businesses and faith-based groups hold tea parties to thank customers, members and clients, suppliers, volunteers and donors. Agencies sometimes hold tea parties to help people who have been in crisis regain a sense personhood. This provides an opportunity for individuals to relax and disengage from the painful emotions and sense of dislocation that can accompany such situations.

Things You'll Need

• Table linens or pretty solid or patterned cotton cloth
• Spray bottle
• Steam iron or vaporizer
• Measuring tape
• Lace or eyelet trim
• Sewing machine
• Clear nylon thread
• 1 pretty teapot per 10 guests
• Service platters
• Cake stands
• Teacups and saucers
• Spoons, dessert forks
• Dessert plates
• Sugar bowls
• Sugar tongs
• Cream pitchers
• Place cards
• Centerpiece items
• Greenery, flowers, fresh fruits, herbs and fresh vegetables
• Tea sandwiches
• Tea cakes, scones
• Sugar cubes, honey, Stevia and artificial sweetener
• Lemon wedges
• Milk and milk substitutes
• Jams, chutneys and marmalade
• Clotted cream

Instructions

Prepare Your Table Linens

1. Examine your table linens. Select the best-looking items you have. Give them a light spritz of water with a spray bottle. Put your table linens in the dryer on air fluff cycle to remove wrinkles. Iron your table linens if necessary, or run a vaporizer to make a small room steamy, and hang them wherever you can to relax the wrinkles.

2. Make your own table linens if you do not have anything that pleases your eye or fits the theme of your tea party. Although you can purchase ready-made table linens, it is more enjoyable to make your own if you are not pressed for time. Measure your table's length and width, and the height from floor to tabletop. Purchase enough cheery solid or printed cotton cloth to cover the tabletop and create a minimum 12-inch to full-length floor-to-tabletop overhang on each side.

3. Stitch lengths of cotton cloth together if your chosen fabric is not wide enough to cover the tabletop and overhang the table by at least 12 inches on all sides, which is a cafe look. Make your tablecloth floor length on all sides for a formal, banquet-hall appearance.

4. Trim your tablecloth with lace or eyelet. Cut lengths of lace or eyelet at 45-degree angles at each end, with the angle on the left running from bottom left to top right, and the angle on the right end of each piece running from bottom right to top left.

5. Pin the lace or eyelet to your fabric, with the "good" side of the lace facing the "right" side of the fabric, 1/8 inch from the edge, with the pins running parallel with the edge of the fabric. The "good" side of lace or eyelet is the side without visible seams or stitching. The "right" side of your fabric is the pretty, printed, slightly smoother side. Running the pins parallel with the fabric will prevent you from breaking the needle on your sewing machine.

6. Stitch along the edges of the fabric, 1/4 inch from the edge, using a zigzag stitch. Stitch along the diagonals of the ends of the lace to close and finish the corners. Turn the fabric right side up and press the seam open, which will make the lace trim fall in line with the rest of the tablecloth, "good" side up.

7. Make matching or contrasting cloth napkins if you wish, or purchase cloth napkins in complementary colors or patterns. Use printed napkins with solid tablecloths and solid-color napkins with printed tablecloths, or the patterns and colors may clash.

Gather Your Tableware

1. Provide one pretty, ceramic teapot for every 10 guests. Place at least one teapot at each end of the table. Serve loose-leaf tea instead of using teabags, especially for more formal tea parties. Provide one tea acorn, also called a tea ball, for each teapot when you serve loose-leaf tea, and a teaspoon, to catch any drips as you remove the tea ball from the pot.

2. Have one decorative service platter for each type of finger sandwich at each end of the table, and at least one cake stand at each end as well.

3. Serve sugar cubes and lemon wedges, arranged on a tray, and serve cream in cream pitchers that match your teapot. Provide sugar tongs at each end of the table with your sugar trays.

4. Use teacups, saucers and dessert plates that match your teapot and cream pitcher for formal teas, according accepted practice at Claridge's and the Dorcester Hotel, two locations in England that are noted for their elegance.

5. Provide two silver or fine stainless-steel spoons and two dessert forks per guest, in case one drops or is sent back to the kitchen by accident. Fold cloth napkins into attractive shapes and place them on each plate, along with a handwritten place card for each guest.

Attractive Food Presentations

1. Cut finger sandwiches into quarters, with crusts removed. Line serving trays with fresh spring greens, lettuce leaves or curly mustard greens. Stack your finger sandwiches in floral patterns on each tray; garnish with sprigs of fresh herbs.

2. Arrange ladyfingers, macaroons and other sweets on a tiered cake tray. Garnish the tray with candied flowers.

3. Garnish trifles with chocolate-dipped mint leaves, chocolate curls, caramelized foam swirls or drizzles of raspberry syrups or caramel sauces.

4. Provide individual portions of cakes and other sweets in ruffled dessert papers arranged on a three-tiered cake tray at each end of the table.

5. Pyramid whole, fresh fruits on cake trays, in individual dessert papers. Garnish with candied flowers and delicate, edible greenery.

6. Use fresh flowers and greenery to decorate the table as needed. Avoid centerpieces taller than 12 inches.

Tips & Warnings

• Cotton cloth is often available for $2 to $3 per yard or less at discount department stores or craft supply warehouses. If you have to stitch multiple lengths of cloth together to make a wide tablecloth, use three panels and position the tablecloth so that the seams run along the length of the front and back of the table. Use two panels only if your budget does not permit three, as the seam will run down the middle of your table and will not look as tailored and elegant.

References

• "New Complete Guide to Sewing"; Reader's Digest; 2002
• Sewing with Tom: Sewing FAQ -- Pins
• Veronica Scott; freelance writer; London, England
• Will Charpentier, freelance writer; Charleston, SC
• Advice With Dr. Dave and Dr. Dee: Centerpiece Height Matters