While we were busy creating our website and the beautiful line of table linens that we offer, our daughter (who was 18 at the time) suggested we make our lace tablecloths with a scalloped edge. I immediately understood her desire to find a way to vary the look of the usual straight-edge cloth. I suggested that a clip of some kind could gather up the fabric. As this new idea began to grow, my friend Mia and I discussed finding a way to make it adaptable to many different designs, or party themes.

I searched for the right kind of clip for months, never finding one that was just right, until my friend Janet and later David at our office, both came up with the brilliant idea of using a garter. At first, I was skeptical. Not a garter…too strange. But then David made a prototype and it just worked so great. It did everything I wanted it to. It wouldn’t damage the tablecloths (you could even use it on antique linen). It was so easy to use, and it could be made from Velcro, thus allowing the different design pieces to be Velcro backed for easy attachment.

I named it the “couvert clip” and Janet named the removable designs “themes”. Sal and Juvenal at our factory refined the clip until it was just right and now we have something we are very proud of….a brand new way of decorating a table! So thanks to everyone who contributed!

All the caterers I’ve ever met have gathered their cloths at the corners using safety pins or straight pins, a difficult and sometimes painful procedure! Now, the professionals in the party business just love it! You can collect as many “themes” as you want, and use it on the same set of clips. So, it’s out with the pins and in with the Couvert Clips.....

Hope you enjoy!