In all honesty , I bought a "store " quilt to use as a table cloth. It protects my table and I really liked the design and colors. Since it was cheap at the time, the badly spotted ones became beach blankets.

great idea, here's my quilt tablecloth and everybody loves it. use a placemat when you eat, take it off when finished. very seldom needs washing.
donna

I agree here, at least for meal times. You can buy it by the yard off the roll at Walmart. Last time I bought some it wasn't all that expensive. I wasn't buying enough to cover a table though.

Here's a great pattern for a table cloth that can be scappy. It is called Posh by Chez Moi and United Notions has it in pdf format.

I have one on both my tables. The one we eat on the most I got the real thin clear plastic sheet at wallmart (sold by the yard in the fabric dept) and put it over it. Does not look bad and protects the quilt.

I have quilts on my table. When it is time to eat I take it off and use placemats.

When I host our Bunco group, I pull my lap size quilts to use as table cloths. (It's only once a year and I secure them with clothes pins around the legs so they don't move.) In fact, we had hardwood floors installed in the family room and I was going to have to place table and chairs directly on the hardwood. So I got a larger quilt ready for binding and put it under the table and chairs. It worked great protecting my floor! And everyone was so impressed!

I no longer buy Koolaid, but I would try a color catcher and/or oxyclean.

I use plastic to cover my tableclothe. WM had on large rolls you can buy, by the yd.

I have made some quilt tablecloths. Many people really like them. I found that the best thing to remember is to keep them as flat as possible. Either use very thin batting or no batting. Depending on the quilt pattern, it can be helpful to make a table topper to place over a solid cloth to eliminate the business of a quilt cloth used with dishes, silverware, etc.