Creating fabulous festive tables - Tartan Napkins

Whoever would have thought that glittering sequins would co-ordinate well with the tradition and heritage of tartan? In fact the contrast is what makes the effect so spectacular and personally as soon as I saw this combination I wanted my very own sequin tablecloth to bring out for special events. On this table we combined a gorgeous shade of champagne to pick out the subtle sand coloured stripe through the Young Weathered tartan. We hired our tablecloth from Pudding Bridge and at least this meant they had the happy task of cleaning all the wax off the sequins afterwards....sorry about that!

Style tip: Pick one of the minor colours in your favourite tartan and use your tablecloth to make this colour a hero.

Nothing looks and feels quality like crisp, white linen napkins and all they need is a little decoration to transform the table. A few weeks ago we taught you how to make our wool tartan ribbon roses on the blog and this is the perfect opportunity to put your new skills to good use. Make your wire stems extra long and they will be perfect for twisting round the napkins giving them a nice pinched in shape. We made all of our roses matching in the gorgeous Crawford Ancient tartan but you can of course mix and match and give individuals their own clan tartans or just their favourite colours. Encourage your guests to take their roses home with them as a memento of a happy day!

For the crafty people out there or those needing to occupy the children in the week before Christmas these napkins rings are so simple to make. All you need is a trusty toilet roll or kitchen roll tube and some pieces of tartan. It is nice to use some family tartan or give guests a setting with their own tartan but this is your table and your napkin rings and if you have some scraps you want to use up then this is the perfect opportunity. Read our blog post for full instructions on how to make yours.

My 10 year old daughter was in heaven with this table setting. Instead of using boring old napkin rings we tied a satin ribbon round our napkins and pinned them with a sparkly brooch. This is quite a sophisticated look and I love the idea that as you sit down to eat and unfurl your napkin, the brooch can be pinned to your outfit. You could have a lot of fun with this at your family Christmas table and choose brooches to suit individual personalities, with festive themes for the little ones.

Style tip: Instead of jewels you could use clan crest kilt pins or badges in your guest's own family crest or one of our thistle, piper or lion rampant crests which can be worn by anyone.

Simple ribbon

Ribbon is wonderful stuff for transforming everything from a parcel to a plain coloured napkin. Whether you tie a really fancy bow (see the blog for how to do this) or a really simple knot this is a simple, cost effective way to brighten up your Christmas table. We have wired ribbon in the festive red of the Stewart Royal to create stiffer, more structured shapes, polyester ribbon in 20 of the more popular tartans and for the rarer tartans the wool ribbon offers you a choice of 500.