Stars From The Flag
Stars alone carry the theme without turning the table into a flag, which is the line most patriotic decoration crosses. Red, white and blue repeat down the strip at a scale that still reads when plates and a centerpiece cover part of it. Set beside an actual flag on a porch or a mantel, the runner echoes it rather than competing, and it stays appropriate at a Memorial Day gathering as well.
Wrinkle Resistant Polyester
Fabric that comes out of a bin creased needs an iron and a board before anyone eats. This one resists wrinkling, so it goes straight onto the table from storage. Cleaning is just as plain: after a cookout it goes in with the towels, dries flat and is ready for the next weekend, which is why one strip can cover several gatherings in a single summer.
Coffee Table And Console
A dining table is only one option. Across a coffee table the runner covers the middle and leaves room for drinks at both ends; on a console by the door it holds a bowl of keys through the week of the Fourth. Because it is a strip rather than a full cloth, it can go on furniture that would look wrong under a tablecloth, including a piano bench or a low bookshelf.
Three Holidays, One Strip
Memorial Day, the Fourth and Labor Day fall inside fourteen weeks, and a household that decorates for all three does not want three sets. Stars are neutral enough to cover the span, and the polyester holds up to being folded and unfolded that many times. Kept in the same bin as the flags and the sparkler bucket, it is the first thing out and the last thing away.
