Answer Angel: Is gingham really 'back'?

Ellen Warren, Tribune News Service on Jun 24, 2025

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Dear Answer Angel Ellen: Because I shop frequently on Etsy (etsy.com), I’m on their email list. The latest email had this headline: “Gingham is back in a big way.”

I’ve always liked this fabric and many years back, I made several decorative throw pillows (with ruffled edges no less) in yellow and white checks along with some cute cafe curtains in the same fabric for my young daughter’s bedroom. I think of checkered fabric as a cute “country cozy” fabric—evocative of a simpler rural life style—like Judy Garland playing Kansan Dorothy in a blue and white gingham pinafore in "The Wizard of Oz."

But the photos accompanying the Etsy email show adult women in gingham clothes. Is this fabric now fashionable for grown-ups?

-- Lena T.

Dear Lena: In fashion, there are no rules. (Well, there are a few, like no nudity on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival.)

Gingham doesn’t seem right for a high-style look to me but that’s just me. If it is trendy for fashionable women, it still wouldn’t be my style. But in the past week, I’ve also read that florals are the chicest for spring/summer 2025. Also, stripes, animal prints, polka dots and geometrics. So, Lena, you do you! Anything goes.

Dear Answer Angel Ellen: I have a dog that sheds like crazy and challenges even my very strong vacuum. I also have young children with drippy Popsicles. And I have hardwood floors I am trying to protect with carpets. They get filthy. I’ve rented carpet-cleaning machines at my grocery store but they aren’t the solution. I need something that can do the heavy lifting on my poor carpets. Any suggestions?

---Melissa M.

Dear Melissa: Dogs and kids are a challenge to any carpet. I too have tried renting heavy-duty carpet shampoo machines. Also, in-home professional carpet cleaning and rug cleaning services that pick up and deliver. All of these have downsides. But I haven’t (yet) tested machine washable carpeting. (Let me hear from readers who have them in their homes, please!) I am impressed by the patterns and style of these floor coverings. Target (target.com), Wayfair (wayfair.com) and many stores and websites sites sell carpeting you can clean in your home washer.

There is plenty of info online that will outline pros and cons. Big pros are purchase price, lightweight, in-home washing convenience. Among the cons: curling edges, biggest ones won’t fit in some home washers, long drying time, skimpy (not plush), moving heavy furniture on and off the rug.

After a couple of years of dog vomit, etc. and disastrous kid spills on their washable living room carpet, some friends decided it was time to throw out the old washable rug and replace it — with another washable. They tell me they feel like they got their money's worth with the old one. That’s product loyalty and that counts for something!

No matter what your future carpeting purchases are, darker colors and busy designs are your friends. They are “good hiders.” And smaller carpets for heavy traffic kitchen and bath areas are a breeze to wash. Sadly, kids and pets often don’t choose those areas for their accidents.

Angelic Readers

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